Next general election should be used as 'manifesto for independence', SNP's Yousaf says

First Minister Humza Yousaf on stage after his speech at the SNP independence convention at Caird Hall in Dundee. Credit: PA

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has said the next Westminster election should be used as a “manifesto for an independent Scotland”. Mr Yousaf told SNP members at the independence convention in Dundee that the manifesto should read as a “vote SNP for Scotland to become independent”. He said: “I am very clear, there is no route to independence except through the lawful and democratic process. Why? Because that is the way that we actually become independent.” He added: “That election gives us the opportunity to break the log jam.

“I believe that in this election, the SNP should offer the people of Scotland a manifesto for an independent Scotland. “And I am proposing in that manifesto – page one, line one – a simple powerful statement to the people. It should say ‘vote for SNP for an independent Scotland’. “If the SNP win this election, then the people will have spoken. We will seek negotiations with the UK government on how we give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent nation.”

For several minutes, Mr Yousaf left the stage to speak a protester who heckled him.

Theresa Mallett, 61, from Glenrothes, said she was left with lifechanging injuries after undergoing botched surgery for sciatica from ex-NHS Tayside doctor Professor Sam Eljamel.

Theresa Mallett, 61, brought the SNP’s independence convention to a standstill.

The neurosurgeon is thought to have harmed hundreds of patients while working at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. Ms Mallett, who was initially booed for her interruption by SNP delegates, was consoled by First Minister Humza Yousaf as she accused the health board of negligence. The lifelong SNP member has now quit the party and told Mr Yousaf only a full public inquiry will restore her faith. Ms Mallett said she underwent the surgery to remove a nerve which was causing her sciatic pain, in 2012, but has been given no insight since into what went wrong.

After the conference, she said: “We want people from NHS Tayside, Ninewells, the managers and anybody that colluded to allow him to continue harming patients. “I’m a member of (the SNP) and I thought I need to go speak to him (the First Minister), I need to go look him in the eye. “I don’t want anybody to ever go through what I went through or the other 112 went through. That can never be allowed to happen."

Mr Yousaf talks to the heckler. Credit: PA

Speaking to journalists after his speech, Mr Yousaf said he was happy to meet Ms Mallett and other victims. He said: “There’s no doubt that she’s suffered a lot of trauma, all the victims of Eljamel have, and I’m happy to meet with her in particular. “She had a particular concern that we haven’t agreed to a public inquiry – I can understand the calls for a public inquiry I have to say. “But the reason why we’ve not progressed the public inquiry is because we think there may be ways of getting answers to the questions that people want through means that’s quicker than a public inquiry. “We know how long a public inquiry often takes but look, everybody who has suffered at the hands of Eljamel has every right to be angry at the situation they find themselves in.” Following the interruption, Mr Yousaf appealed to SNP members to not “shout down” those who are trying to be heard. Professor Eljamel, a former head of neurosurgery at NHS Tayside, removed himself from the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2013, but the remit does not extend beyond the UK and he is currently working as a surgeon in Libya.

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