Senior SNP MP says Scotland could break away from UK without referendum.

It would only take a ‘democratic event’, such as a general election, she adds

Scotland could break away from the UK without holding an independence referendum, says a senior SNP MP.

Joanna Cherry, the party’s home affairs and justice spokeswoman at Westminster, said secession could be achieved through a general election instead.

The Edinburgh MP also said the SNP would prop up a minority Labour government in London in exchange for Indyref2, removing Trident from Scottish soil and Holyrood running its own immigration system.

Speaking to a fringe meeting at the Glasgow conference, Ms Cherry said: “Our aim is to make Scotland an independent country.

“I would remind you that Scotland voted against that in 2014. There has to be a democratic event – and I choose those words wisely.

“It doesn’t have to necessarily be a referendum, it could be something else. It could be a general election, but there has to be a democratic event.”

In theory, the SNP could write into its general election manifesto a pledge to declare independence if the party won the majority of Scottish seats in the Commons.

Scotland in Union chief executive Pamela Nash described Ms Cherry’s comments as “dangerous and ill-judged” and reveal the SNP is “determined to achieve independence by any means possible”.

“We know that Scotland does not want a divisive and unnecessary second independence referendum, so SNP politicians are concocting ways to bypass the views of voters.”

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Every political party agreed in 2014 that a referendum was the only way to decide on Scotland’s future.

“Not only is the SNP refusing to accept the result, now we have senior MPs suggesting they’d declare independence as and when they please. This kind of arrogant nationalism has no place in any functioning democracy.”

The SNP has distanced itself from Ms Cherry’s comments. A party spokeswoman said: “The SNP’s longstanding policy, which is set by the membership, is that independence would only be achieved through a referendum”

It doesn’t have to necessarily bea referendum, it could be something else. JOANNA CHERRY

Picture: Getty. Delegates at the SNP conference in Glasgow, at which Edinburgh MP Joanna Cherry stoked controversy over her comments on a second referendum.