THE SNP depute leadership race will hit television screens this evening when STV will broadcast a discussion among the three candidates.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown, Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny and senior activist Julie Hepburn are to take part in a 12-minute debate hosted by journalist Colin Mackay on Scotland Tonight.
The contest for the role of deputy was triggered when former Westminster group leader Angus Robertson stood down from the post in March after losing his Moray seat at the General Election in June last year.
Party regional hustings have been taking place over the past couple of weeks, but tonight’s debate will be the first time members of the public will see the candidates in action discussing the political issues of the day.
Each of the contenders has written articles for The National, and the dominant theme of the discussion in both the pages of this newspaper and in the hustings has been over the timing of a new independence referendum, how to win over voters who previously voted No as well as maintain the support of the 45 per cent of Scots who backed a vote for independence in September 2014.
McEleny has maintained a position of wanting a new referendum within 18 months.
Brown and Hepburn were both initially reluctant to get drawn into a discussion on the timescale for a new vote, but have recently made statements on it.
Brown has said there will be a new vote in “one or two years”, while Hepburn has insisted the mandate won in the Holyrood election in 2016 will be exercised during the parliamentary term, which ends in May 2021.
Candidates are also likely to be asked about Brexit, the ‘power grab’ in the EU Withdrawal Bill and may be pressed too on whether an independent Scotland should seek to get back into the EU as a member or seek instead to join Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in the European Free Trade Association (Efta).
Around 100,000 SNP members will qualify to vote in the contest with the winner announced on 8 June at the SNP conference.
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