I’M going to start my column this week by stating the bleeding obvious. Scotland, sadly, is not yet an independent country. We are still part of the UK. And Northern Ireland has had no devolved administration for the past two years.

All of that is clear and brooks no contention. And that’s why, last week, the SNP’s Westminster group voted overwhelmingly to bring Northern Ireland laws on abortion and gay marriage out of the twilight zone and into the 21st-century.

READ MORE: Scottish Tory MPs vote against abortion rights in Northern Ireland

A couple of their MPs abstained, which they had every right to do because it was a free vote. But more puzzlingly, some in the independence movement criticised the MPs for sticking their nose into the affairs of another devolved part of the United Kingdom.

The most vociferous reaction came from The National, Herald and Observer columnist Kevin McKenna, who more often than not talks a great deal of sense, interlaced with admirable flair and wit. But when he argues that “this was a coup carried out by the UK’s metropolitan elite and the SNP’s role in it was hypocritical and shameful”, he is on seriously shaky ground.

The National:

Don’t take my word for it. Sinn Fein – which represents a majority of Northern Ireland’s Catholic population, and which is so hostile to Westminster that it refuses to take up its seats in the House of Commons – welcomed the vote. “The government with jurisdiction has responsibility to deliver rights if the devolved institution is denying those rights. If the DUP continue to deny rights, then Westminster has a responsibility to legislate for these matters.” The SDLP, the Alliance Party and the Greens also supported the decision.

The SNP vote in the House of Commons was not an attempt to “humiliate our nearest neighbour”. It was about ensuring that the women and lesbian and gay people of Northern Ireland have the same fundamental human rights as those in Britain and in the rest of the island of Ireland.

READ MORE: SNP MP fearing deselection from party over pro-life views

Is it right that women, frightened and vilified, still have to sneak on to a ferry to Liverpool to avoid forced motherhood, and should suffer that fate indefinitely while they wait for the politicians to sort out their differences over the Irish language? Is it right that loving couples cannot formalise their union in the same way as their brothers and sisters and workmates and neighbours because those who have the power to govern can’t agree how to share that power?

No one is forcing anyone in Northern Ireland to have an abortion or marry someone of the same sex. This is about basic human rights – and I say that not as a member of any metropolitan elite, but as someone who grew up in some of Glasgow’s poorest areas and was educated in a rough and tough comprehensive before leaving school aged 16. If anything, safe legal abortion in Northern Ireland will benefit most of all young working-class women who are less likely to afford alternative arrangements.

This spat does throw up a wider issue. Independence activists are well-versed in the arguments about how Scotland is sidelined by the UK set-up. That tends to be our focus, but we can sometimes forget the potential power we wield, at this stage mainly through the large group of SNP MPs in Westminster.

The National:

Unlike Sinn Fein, the SNP has never been an abstentionist party. That difference is rooted in the distinct history of the two national movements on either side of the water. It’s a fundamental tenet of Irish republicanism that it refuses to participate in the functioning of the seat of British colonial power.

Sinn Fein’s abstentionism is a matter entirely for them. But I wonder if there are some in Sinn Fein who wonder how much influence the party’s seven MPs might have had throughout these past few years of Westminster shenanigans, with all the profound implications of Brexit for the whole of the island of Ireland.

That’s not something the SNP has ever had to grapple with. And as a result, the party may well in the months ahead find itself in a pivotal position to simultaneously speed up independence while contributing to progressive reform in other parts of the UK.

Later this month, barring some unforeseen political earthquake, Boris Johnson will be elevated to prime minister based on the votes of a tiny fraction of the UK British population made up largely of wealthy, elderly, racist English nationalists.

READ MORE: Where politicians can't deliver a solution, the public will find a way

So, what should the SNP group do if Trump’s man in London wants to sign up to a trade deal that involves selling whole chunks of England’s NHS to American corporations?

Should our MPs allow Johnson to throw the poor, the sick and the disabled to the wolves of Wall Street on the grounds that this is a devolved matter and therefore not something we wish to soil our hands with? Or should they seize every opportunity to disrupt the right-wing agenda of a man who has repeatedly made clear his contempt for Scotland’s right to self-determination?

With Boris the Blustering Blunderbuss in power, a General Election might not be far away. Based on a poll published in The Independent last week, the

right-wing parties, including the Tories, the Brexit Party and Ukip, will struggle to win a majority over the parties of the left and centre. The SNP’s role could be decisive.

Not that I’d ever advocate that the SNP take part in any Westminster coalition government. But its MPs may well end up holding the balance of power. And from the start, it would make sense to allow Corbyn’s Labour to take power in exchange for agreeing to a binding independence referendum and for the Scottish Government to set the timing for it.

The SNP could have more power than it has now – and they should have no qualms about using it. If English MPs don’t like it, then agree to a referendum and be done with us. And in the meantime, maybe we should start cranking up the demand for a General Election as soon Johnson is anointed prime minister. A poll last week commissioned by the website Left Foot Forward found 53% support across the UK for an immediate General Election (excluding don’t knows). But that figure rises to 64% in Scotland and 82% among SNP voters.

That’s a sign of confidence and demonstrates that momentum is now well and truly on the independence side.