The Scottish public should be given the power to propose a second independence referendum rather than having one imposed upon them by a political party, according to Scottish Green co-convener Patrick Harvie.
The pro-independence party has proposed a “citizens’ initiative” to allow ordinary voters to start a legally enforcible petition for a second referendum.
The terms and threshold of such a petition have yet to be decided, and a Scottish Green spokesman acknowledged that the policy could also open the door to a rival petition to halt a second referendum.
The SNP has not ruled out proposing a second referendum in its next Holyrood manifesto, but Mr Harvie said it should be up to the people, not political parties.
The Scottish Greens are holding their biggest ever conference at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, after seeing their membership surge from 1,200 to over 9,000 following the No vote in September 2014.
In his keynote speech to conference, Mr Harvie said: “The question of independence may well be put again, but let’s say that the people of Scotland are in charge of that.
“We propose a citizens’ initiative so that it is the public who say when they are ready for that question to be put, not political parties carving up a deal behind closed doors.”
The party hopes to surpass its previous electoral peak of seven MSPs next year, and once again be in a position to influence Scottish Government policy as it did under the first SNP minority-led parliament.
He added: “What a year we have had, it’s been extraordinary.
“The membership of the Scottish Green Party had been growing substantially through the European (election) campaign, but the incredible surge in membership that came on the back of the (independence) referendum was bewildering.
“Last year we were turning people away from our conference, it was so frustrating.
“Our vote went up in every single constituency.”
Mr Harvie acknowledged that Scotland faces an in/out referendum on the European Union before the question of Scottish independence can be put again.
He said: “We cannot permit the right wing, the hostile, the divisive rhetoric of austerity, the absurd fanatic ideology of the free market to define both yes and no in that referendum.
“In what must count as one of the most despicable speech I have ever heard from a political party conference, Theresa May showed just how willing the Tories are to lie and blame some of the most vulnerable people in our society for the pressures that they themselves are creating.
“The lie that it is immigrants or refugees or asylum seekers that put pressure on our public services and infrastructure.
“What an outright despicable lie. It is the UK Government themselves, by undermining those services and robbing the country of investment, that is putting pressure on them.”
Mr Harvie contrasted the Tories’ consistent “right wing” message with the mixed messages he sees coming from other political parties.
“At least they’re not asking you to vote for a pig in a poke”, he said, in a clear allusion to Lord Ashcroft’s allegations about the youthful hijinks of Prime Minister David Cameron.
He welcomed the SNP’s recent moratorium on underground coal gasification, but questioned their commitment to environmental policies, observing that Energy Minister Fergus Ewing only gets a “fire in his eyes” when he’s talking about the continuing viability of Scotland’s oil industry.
He also called for a property market that benefits those looking for a home rather than “those who can make a fast buck with a few back-to-back deals – naming no names”, alluding to the police investigation into property transactions involving a solicitor linked to suspended SNP MP Michelle Thomson.
Turning to Labour, he said: “It’s interesting to see a Labour leader who probably agrees with us on more than he agrees with his own parliamentary party.
“It’s curious, and there will be many people in the Labour party who sense that hope and optimism in their own party and they have a chance to turn that tanker around.
“But it remains to be seen whether they are going to be able to do that against a might of party machine that is already plotting against him.”