SCOTTISH National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon is gearing up for a big conference next month (March) to prepare a roadmap to deliver her nation’s independence from the United Kingdom, despite the political and economic black hole this would likely lead to.

In recent months, Sturgeon has been on the political back foot after more than a decade of the SNP running the devolved administration in Scotland. Not only did the UK Supreme Court rule last Autumn that the Holyrood legislature does not have the authority to declare a new independence referendum, in the absence of consent from the UK government. She has also been on the defensive over her policy on trans rights with her championing of the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill which would allow people as young as 16 in Scotland to quickly change their legal gender (the bill has been vetoed by the UK government on the ground that it would undermine UK-wide equality law). The combined impact has seen some polls showing that backing for the SNP has slumped to its lowest level for five years.

In addition, Sturgeon’s previously impregnable leadership position at the top of the SNP is facing new internal party challenges. One indication of this was the disagreements over who should lead the SNP’s MPs in the Westminster legislature. Sturgeon’s close ally, Ian Blackford, was deposed with the much younger Stephen Flynn assuming the leadership.