SNP gathers amid growing pressure over independence strategy
Sturgeon: Corbyn must back indyref2 for SNP votes
(about 11 hours later)
The SNP's autumn conference is to open in Aberdeen.
Nicola Sturgeon has told Jeremy Corbyn not to "bother picking up the phone" to ask the SNP to put him in government unless he backs an independence vote.
The conference is being held as party leader Nicola Sturgeon faces mounting pressure from some members over her independence strategy.
The Scottish first minister said she was in favour of removing Boris Johnson from office and holding an election.
Ms Sturgeon wants to hold a referendum next year - but the UK government has already ruled out granting the consent she says is needed to make it legal.
But she said her backing for a future "progressive alliance" government relied on a deal to hold a referendum.
Some activists are growing impatient and have called on Ms Sturgeon to set out a so-called Plan B.
Ms Sturgeon also said she would seek UK government consent this year to hold a new independence vote.
Speaking on the first day of the conference, the party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford is expected to say the SNP will retain its majority of Scottish seats at Westminster to reaffirm its mandate to hold a second referendum "if that's what it takes for any UK government to listen".
'Right to choose'
He will tell delegates the "only option" to address the Brexit "crisis" is to call a general election.
Mr Corbyn has said he does not think a new independence poll is "a good idea", but has not ruled out allowing one.
He will say: "The excuses for keeping Boris Johnson in office are running dry, and the patience of people in Scotland is running out. We must take the power out of Boris Johnson's hands - and put it back in the hands of the people."
Ms Sturgeon wants to hold a new vote in the second half of 2020, but has yet to ask UK ministers for the required "section 30" request to allow it.
'Leader in waiting'
She said it was not yet clear who the prime minister would be at that point.
There have been calls for an unofficial independence referendum - similar to the disputed one in Catalonia in 2017 - to be held as soon as possible.
She told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme that she would be willing to oust the Conservatives in favour of a "progressive-type alliance", but warned Mr Corbyn to not "even bother picking up the phone to me" unless he accepted "Scotland's right to choose our own future".
SNP members, including MP Angus MacNeil and former health secretary Alex Neil, have argued that winning a majority of Scottish seats at Westminster should be enough for independence negotiations to begin without the need for a referendum - which was once the SNP's official policy.
Ms Sturgeon's comments come as the SNP gathers in Aberdeen for its autumn conference, and at a pivotal moment in UK politics and the Brexit process.
Mr MacNeil has suggested that high-profile SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who has led a series of successful legal challenges against the UK government over Brexit, is a "leader in waiting" for the party.
Mr Johnson has repeatedly challenged other parties to support a snap general election, but opposition leaders want to rule out a no-deal Brexit first - and are divided on whether a fresh EU referendum should come before an election.
Ms Sturgeon has also been criticised by some within the Yes movement over her failure to attend any of the large All Under One Banner pro-independence rallies that have been held across Scotland, including one in Edinburgh last weekend.
The SNP leader told Andrew Marr she was "ruling nothing out" in the coming weeks, but said an election would be the most realistic outcome due to the difficulty of leaving an interim government in place throughout a referendum campaign.
The party's spring conference in April saw party members inflict a minor defeat on the leadership over its proposals for an independent Scotland's currency.
Should an election not produce a clear winner, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP "will not put the Tories in office and are not in favour of coalitions".
But while independence is likely to feature prominently in Ms Sturgeon's speech, and in a roundtable session of Scotland's future featuring deputy leader Keith Brown, MSP Kate Forbes and MP Mhairi Black, delegates will not be given the opportunity to debate indyref2 in the main conference hall.
However, she warned that votes from her MPs - currently the third-largest group at Westminster - would be contingent on the new prime minister giving the green light to an independence referendum.
This has angered a group of grassroots members including Mr MacNeil and Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleney, who have been among the most vocal over the need for a Plan B.
She said: "We would favour a progressive-type alliance, but I would say this to Jeremy Corbyn or any Westminster leader who's looking to the SNP for support - if you don't accept Scotland's right to choose our own future, at the time of our own choosing, don't even bother picking up the phone to me."
Mr McEleny is expected to attempt to have a debate on Plan B added to the conference agenda when the event opens.
'matter of weeks'
Analysis by Philip Sim, BBC Scotland political reporter
Mr Corbyn has previously said Labour would not actively stand in the way of "indyref2", but has indicated he would seek to delay it.
Questions about the timing of indyref2 and what is being done to deliver it have swirled around SNP conferences since, well, indyref1.
He said he would not agree to a vote "in the formative years of a Labour government", while focusing on "central priorities" such as "sorting the Tory Brexit nightmare" and pursuing "transformative investment in Scotland's people, communities and public services".
But the party rarely proves itself to be as divided as its opponents hope. Twitter tirades aside, time and again the vast bulk of the membership prove themselves to be firmly behind Nicola Sturgeon.
This approach could see the independence vote pushed back beyond Ms Sturgeon's preferred timetable in 2020, and past the Holyrood elections in 2021.
Still, the leader is taking a tougher line with what rebels there are. Whereas previously she has politely asked for "patience" and urged members to keep the faith, her comments in the build-up to this conference have been stark: there is no shortcut to independence. Forget Plan B.
A "section 30" agreement is the same legal mechanism used to facilitate the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Or to put it another way, "keep playing with the heid". Get the groundwork done, and we'll have a referendum when we're sure we can win it.
Ms Sturgeon said she would make a section 30 request "over the next matter of weeks - it is coming soon. But we don't yet know who is likely to be in Downing Street - the situation is very fluid, and that is why I've chosen to do the preparations that are within our control and we're getting on with that."
Follow @BBCPhilipSim's tweets from the conference.
The current UK government has repeatedly refused to countenance allowing a new independence vote, with Home Secretary Priti Patel telling the same programme that ministers were determined to "respect the result of referendums that took place previously".
Ahead of the conference, Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland that a legal referendum similar to the one in 2014 remained the only way for the country to win independence, and warned critics of her approach that there was "no easy or shortcut route".
This has led some SNP members - including MPs, MSPs and councillors - to call for a "plan B", such as securing a majority in an election or holding an unauthorised poll.
Writing in the conference guide, she said support for independence was "on the rise across Scotland", but urged party members to "reach outwards and engage those who are not yet persuaded".
'Doesn't end well'
She also said the party would use any future general election to send a "crystal clear message that Scotland must have the right to choose independence, within the current Holyrood term of parliament, with the democratic mandate we already have".
However, Ms Sturgeon ruled out such an approach, saying a legal and constitutional referendum was the only way forward.
Ms Sturgeon said the conference was being held at a "time of great uncertainty", adding: "Never in my lifetime has politics been so turbulent, and never in that time has the threat to Scotland's wellbeing and prosperity been so profound.
She said: "If I thought there was any quicker way, an easier way, a plan B that would get us there quicker, I would have taken it by now.
"A Tory government led by a cabal of hardline extremists intent on pushing through Brexit, no matter the harm and damage it will cause, has led us to the brink of disaster.
"What we have to do is have a process that allows us to demonstrate that there is majority support in Scotland for independence, and we have to have a process that is legal and accepted, otherwise our independence will not be recognised."
"Scotland said no to Brexit and we meant it."
She added: "It would make my life easier in the short term just to just tell my supporters what they want to hear, but I've watched Brexiteer leaders doing that over the last three years and it doesn't end well. I have to deal in reality.
What else is on the conference agenda?
"I'm determined to lead my country to independence, and that means doing it properly."
The conference will open at 14:00 on Sunday with a welcome address by the party's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, and close with Ms Sturgeon's keynote speech on Tuesday afternoon.
Among the topics being discussed in the main hall will be Brexit, climate justice, drugs policy, state pensions in an independent Scotland and the importance of the Scots language.
There will also be speeches from senior party figures including Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Finance Secretary Derek Mackay.
