THE SNP’s Joanna Cherry has urged her party not to “fall into the trap of conceding that the fight against the coronavirus and dealing with its economic fallout precludes pursuing the goal of independence”.

Writing in today’s The National, the SNP MP says it’s time for the First Minister to publish policy papers on how to set up an independent Scotland.

“Brexit is proceeding at full speed. Devolution is under attack. The Tories are continuing to pursue their constitutional agenda. We must do likewise,” Cherry writes.

READ MORE: Joanna Cherry: Politics is not on hold – we must keep independence in sight

Her comments come as Boris Johnson travels to Scotland with his cabinet in “panic mode” over rising support for independence.

The Prime Minister’s trip north of the Border follows a series of polls showing most voters in Scotland now support independence. Two recent Panelbase polls found 54% of voters would now vote Yes in a new referendum.

Last December, after her party won 48 of Scotland’s 59 constituencies at the General Election, Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Johnson asking for a Section 30 order to allow Holyrood to hold a legally watertight referendum.

Number 10 said no and, earlier this week, reiterated that position.

Answering questions from journalists, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said they would “continue to uphold the decisive verdict” from 2014’s referendum.

In her column today, Cherry says that while it might be a “comforting thought” that Johnson will change his position if a pro-independence majority is returned at next year’s Holyrood elections, the SNP look “at what other leverage we might have”.

She writes: “How to secure a vote for independence in a way that will result in an outcome that will be respected internationally and therefore will be effective remains problematic.

“Of course, the route followed in 2014 is the gold standard. But we are in a very different world.

“A strategy which rests solely on the assumption that Boris Johnson will grant a Section 30 order if the SNP win just one more mandate is a risky one.

“Boris Johnson is no respecter of mandates or indeed laws, as we saw with the prorogation case and his defence of Dominic Cummings’s cross-country Covid rambles.”

She also calls for the party to “grasp the thistle” of how an independent Scotland will trade with the rest of UK, saying it’s an issue that matters to floating voters.

“In my experience knocking on doors in Edinburgh, the issue of how to avoid a hard border with England in the event of independence troubles those who voted No in 2014 but who are open to changing their minds in the light of developments.”

During her Brexit day speech in January, the First Minister promised a series of papers would be published on how to set up an independent Scotland. Cherry says it is “vital that these are now progressed and published.”