A REFERENDUM ultimatum in an SNP “manifesto draft” published online this month is in fact taken from a member’s proposal, the Sunday National can reveal.

Documents said to make up parts of the party’s 2021 Scottish ­Parliament election manifesto were released online less than a fortnight ago.

These included a “last and final ­request” to the UK Government over the transfer of referendum powers to Holyrood.

The demand is part of a vow to “hold a referendum on Scotland’s ­future”, together with an accompanying “pledge to protect Scotland’s parliament and honour the will of the Scottish ­people” which were revealed to the public by the Wings Over ­Scotland blog.

It states that a Yes majority in May will trigger an “immediate” move to hold indyref2 “as soon as it is safe to do so”.

The March 4 post suggested that readers “might like a look at the draft SNP manifesto introduction ... that’s currently being passed around branches for comment”.

Its emergence drew denials from SNP president Michael Russell, who was linked to the writing of the text by the political blog, which receives more than 250,000 visitors per month.

Today the Sunday National can reveal the true origins of the leaked material.

Documents seen by this newspaper show how it was part of a range of papers shared with the party’s ­ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) late last month. This includes a range of content related to the ­development of the manifesto.

The pledges on the parliament and second indyref were clearly labelled “Manifesto Proposal” and “report addendum”.

It is not known who released the items.

READ MORE: Michael Russell says 'leaked' SNP manifesto is 'nonsense'

But this newspaper’s source – who did not share any of the other draft manifesto materials – said erroneous claims about the party’s plans are “the absolute last thing we need” as the May 6 contest nears.

The source said: “This one is just an absolute lie. The files clearly show what this really is.

“People are very annoyed. It’s something 42 people on the NEC have seen and it’s not a manifesto draft, it’s clearly marked as a proposal from one member of the committee. To say otherwise is blatantly false.

“This one is just an absolute lie.

“I think some people are fairly ­unhappy with the leadership and are trying to use any stick to beat them with.

“When you look at how close we are to a Holyrood election, with an independence referendum on the ­horizon, it’s the absolute last thing we need.”

Commenting at the time, Russell told The National: “I didn’t write it and as far as I know there is no ‘leaked manifesto’. That is all that needs to be said as all the other nonsense in the piece flows from those two entirely false claims.”

Stuart Campbell, the man behind the blog, pointed us to a screengrab of an email sent from an official SNP account "my@snp.org" which had the file attached, and shared an audio clip of a meeting in which members discuss the document.

He said: “I haven’t published [the email] on Wings because even with the names of sender and recipients redacted the full text of the message would enable the sender to recognise themselves, and therefore likely identify the people who leaked it to me.

“I have complete and absolute confidence in my source, who has leaked me numerous ­documents in the past which have all subsequently proven to be legitimate, often despite initial SNP denials.

“It’s a shame the party feels unable to simply be honest and transparent with its members.”

THE proposal states that the conditions for a fresh independence vote have been met through Brexit’s ­“material change in circumstances” and the emergence of a “sustained majority in favour of independence”.

The parliament protection pledge states: “Just over 20 years ago the people of Scotland instructed the UK Parliament in Westminster to ­further devolve some of the powers they grant to it to a new parliament closer to home at Holyrood.

“A mere six years ago the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly to make that parliament in Holyrood permanent, to never have its powers reduced, undermined, or removed by Westminster without their consent.

“Indeed they voted to greatly increase those powers and to enshrine in law the Sewell Convention that enforces Holyrood’s primacy over Westminster with respect to its devolved ­powers.

“Since that date many new powers have come to Holyrood but the Tory government in Westminster, that has no Scottish mandate, has ­repeatedly chipped away at the ­powers of ­Holyrood and passed laws with ­devolved impacts over the express ­rejection of those laws by the ­Scottish People’s representatives both in ­Holyrood and Westminster.”

IT continues: “With this manifesto the Scottish National Party explicitly seeks the authority of the people of Scotland to enact laws that protect the powers of the Parliament at ­Holyrood from further erosion, that enshrine in law the principle that Westminster may not pass laws that alter devolved law in Scotland without the consent of the ­Parliament at Holyrood or the consent of the ­Scottish People ­expressed in a clear referendum on the matter and may call referendums on expanding the devolved powers of the Scottish ­Parliament at any time, referendums that will carry the full force of the Sovereignty of the ­Scottish people.

“Should the political parties that support this call represent a ­majority of members of the Scottish ­Parliament after this election that will be ­interpreted as clear authority from the­ sovereign body in ­Scotland to enact said reforms ­protecting the ­parliament at ­Holyrood and ­guaranteeing that the ­people of ­Scotland will always henceforth have the opportunity to express their ­wishes in a legally binding manner.”

The SNP said: “Michael Russell has already rubbished this nonsense. Nicola Sturgeon is writing the introduction, no-one else.”