ONE of the senior figures in the SNP being tipped as its new deputy leader says he is confident the battle for Scottish independence can be won.

In an article ahead of the launch of a fresh independence push this summer, Tommy Sheppard sets out details of a plan he believes would build a triumphant case.

Writing in The National, he argued targeting voters he described as “i-curious” – those who may have considered backing independence – is key to turning the 45 per cent minority into a 60 per cent majority.

He said the summer initiative signals the start of a process which reaches across the Yes/No divide.

“Sometimes things change in spite of our best endeavours. And sometimes we have to make our own history. That’s what this summer’s launch of a new campaign for independence is all about,” he wrote in the article which will reignite the constitutional debate.

“Changing the terrain, moving support for independence from 45 per cent to over 60 per cent. It would be wrong to think of this as a single event. It has to be a multi-faceted process, reaching out and engaging with those who voted No last time.

“There will be some who we will never convince but they are the minority. There are a great number of people who voted No but could be described as i-curious.

“It wasn’t that they would never consider the idea but the time wasn’t right. They worried that we couldn’t afford it, or that others would sabotage the endeavour. These are our audience.”

He pointed out to how the 2014 referendum has led to a new political schism in Scotland with the country aligned with a left-of-centre majority backing independence and a right of centre opposition in favour of the Union.

“Support for public services, the fight for equality and a fair re-distributive tax system are now synonymous with self-government, whereas low taxes, public spending cuts and inequality are identified with unionism. That’s a split I like, because that’s a battle we can win,” he said, warning that Labour will lose more support if it does not break with its support for the Union.

“The first consequence of this new political reality is that Labour have not yet hit bottom. In the Venn diagram of contemporary Scottish politics the overlap between unionism and socialism is smaller than ever and if Labour cannot, or will not, break out of that space it has further still to fall.”

Sheppard, who was elected MP for Edinburgh East last year after being a key figure in the Yes campaign, added that the reasons for the 2014 defeat must be analysed and improved arguments made.

“We need to revise the offer – partly because there might be better ways of putting it, but also because the world has changed,” he said.

“Major policies need to be revisited. Is it credible to argue for a sterling zone when the biggest player says no? Maybe it is, maybe bluffs need to be called. But maybe we need a better Plan B, the existence of which might well make the UK Exchequer take a different view anyway.

“And we need a new energy policy centred on making Scotland Europe’s renewables capital. It was the No campaign who claimed Scotland’s independence was predicated on the barrel price of oil.

“It never was and it’ll be even less so next time round.”

He added that the arguments made by the No campaign to suggest that an independent Scotland would be “isolated” in the world also need to be countered more aggressively.

“In fact it is the Union, and the constant requirement to communicate with the world through the prism of London, which keeps us separate and denies our potential contribution to the world,” he spelt out.

He also highlighted that demographics will help support the Yes cause, with the over 60s being one of the most important groups of people to reject independence.

“For many the union had a positive balance sheet with their own experience trumping Thatcher’s cuts and Blair’s illegal wars. But time moves on. Memories fade, people die. The next time the question is asked the negatives will outweigh the positives for more people,” he wrote.

Ross Greer, the Green MSP and former Yes Scotland Communities Coordinator, welcomed Sheppard’s intervention.

He said: “Just as the building of an independent Scotland should be an inclusive, public process, so too should the construction of an even stronger case for a Yes vote than was offered in 2014.”