John Swinney has been blasted for vowing to prioritise independence from day one of a new SNP government - even if he fails to win a majority.
Despite months of claiming only outright victory would give him a credible mandate, the First Minister will spend public money trying to break up the UK so long as he holds onto power.
He said that, if returned to Bute House, he would force an immediate Holyrood vote about transferring referendum powers from Westminster under a Section 30 order.
The SNP leader said he would also publish a draft referendum Bill - the SNP’s third in a decade - within 100 days of forming a government.
And he would convene a Constitutional Convention, which would exclude Reform UK, to work on the ‘draft constitution for an Independent Scotland’.
Asked seven times if his plans depended on an SNP majority, the First Minister refused to give a straight answer.
But his spin doctor later confirmed the SNP would push ahead regardless of MSP numbers, provided it was still in office.
‘We’re going to continue to argue for and pursue independence,’ he said.
The Scottish Tories said Mr Swinney was ‘hellbent’ on constitutional chaos, while Labour accused the nationalists of trying to ‘shift the goalposts’.
John Swinney said he would publish a draft referendum Bill within 100 days of forming a government
It came as another poll suggested the SNP will miss the 65 seats Mr Swinney has made his target in the election.
The Survation survey for the Diffley Partnership put the SNP on course for 62 seats, followed by Reform on 19, Labour 17, the Greens 12, Tories 11 and Liberal Democrats 8.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: ‘John Swinney’s plot to make the first vote of the new parliament about an independence referendum confirms how breathtakingly out of touch he is with the people of Scotland.
‘Instead of focusing on the cost-of-living crisis, jobs, education or the NHS, he’s hellbent on plunging Holyrood into fresh constitutional chaos.
‘Swinney’s new threat to demand another unwanted referendum is a wake-up call to those who think he’s not serious about breaking up our country. It’s all he really cares about.’
Mr Swinney launched a paper setting out his plans for the first 100 days of a fifth-term SNP administration with a speech to party activists and candidates in Glasgow.
He said his government would be ‘hitting the ground running for Scotland’.
He said: ‘On the first sitting day after the appointment of the new government, we will bring forward a vote of the Scottish Parliament to approve the development of a Section 30 Order to give Scotland the power to hold an independence referendum.
‘Within the first hundred days, we will publish the draft Referendum Bill. We propose that the question, as in 2014, is: “Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes or No.”
‘And we will convene a Constitutional Convention to help inform the Independence Referendum Bill and start to shape the draft constitution for an independent Scotland.’
SNP ministers also issued draft referendum bills - which have no legal status - in 2016 and 2021. They came to nothing.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC refused to let the 2021 Bill be introduced to parliament as it seemed beyond Holyrood’s powers - a fatal flaw later confirmed by the UK Supreme Court.
There is no legal mechanism to force the UK Government to grant a referendum, as it is ultimately a political decision.
But despite Labour ministers ruling out a vote, Mr Swinney insisted the ‘precedent’ of the SNP’s 2011 landslide would secure one.
Ask about legal action if Westminster refused, he said: ‘Nobody has to consider litigation if we just respect the precedent that was designed and created in 2011.
‘The precedent was established in 2011 of the election of an SNP majority leading to a referendum. It is a precedent I intend to repeat on May 7 and ensure that people in Scotland have their democratic right to choose their own future.’
He said only ‘the election of a majority of SNP MSPs’ would ‘break the log jam’, but refused to ditch his independence plans if he didn’t win a majority.
The FM also claimed that within 100 days he wanted 2,000 first time homebuyers to get up to £10,000 support for their purchase, a £2 cap on single bus fares in Glasgow, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Inverclyde, and five more GP walk-in centres open.
He also said he wanted a price cap on essential food items ‘by the end of the year’.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘John Swinney’s priority is not the NHS, not supporting our public services, and not making our streets safer.
‘It is dividing our country and obsessing over the arguments of the past.
‘Swinney is taking the classic approach of the SNP - they shift the goalposts to cover up for their failures.’
Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair Wendy Chamberlain MP said: ‘Straight from the horse’s mouth: from Shetland to Stranraer, every vote for the SNP will be taken as permission to obsess over independence.
‘It won’t end in 100 days either. It’s their plan for the whole Parliament.’
On the Survation poll, Scott Edgar, senior research manager of Diffley Partnership, said: ‘While the SNP remain on course to be the largest party, albeit short of an overall majority, support for the other parties is broadly dispersed.
‘Relatively small shifts in support between now and next Thursday could have a significant impact on the final distribution of seats.’