Thousands of independence supporters to join march in Glasgow

Thousands of independence supporters are expected the march through the streets of Glasgow, despite a rally that was planned to conclude the event being cancelled after Met Office warnings of high winds.

The march on Saturday is the first of eight planned for 2020 by the grassroots organisation All Under One Banner in what is likely be a crucial year for the Scottish independence movement.

It comes the day after former Labour cabinet minister and MP Ben Bradshaw declared he was “100% certain” that Scotland would choose to leave the UK in the event of a second referendum on independence, which first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is pushing for later this year.

Bradshaw told German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel: “The political class in England – and this includes my own party – must very quickly recognize the Scots’ right to self-determination”, which was then retweeted approvingly by Sturgeon.

AUOB, which insists it is not aligned with any political party, will organise events across the country, in Peebles, Elgin, Kirkcaldy, Stirling, Edinburgh and again in Glasgow, with the next march planned for Arbroath in April to mark the 700th anniversary of the signing of Scotland’s declaration of independence.

Traffic restrictions will be in place on Saturday between Kelvin Way, where the march is scheduled to depart from Kelvingrove Park at 11.30am, and Glasgow Green, where it will end.

On Thursday, organisers were forced to cancel a rally planned for the Green after forecasts of high winds resulted in safety concerns.

The All Under One Banner organiser Gary Kelly said that, before the weather warnings were in place, he had applied to Glasgow city council with an estimate that about 100,000 would attend the march. He said the programme of marches this year reflected a growing momentum for a second independence referendum.

“After the general election, where the SNP got 44% of the vote in Scotland, how many more mandates do they need? I’m really hopeful for an independence referendum this year, but I have a feeling that it may be dragged into 2021 because of the Holyrood election.”

During the general election campaign, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said if his party won power it would consider granting the powers to hold a second referendum if there was a pro-independence majority after next year’s Scottish parliament elections. Boris Johnson has consistently stated that he would refuse to do so regardless of electoral circumstances.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, wrote to the prime minister at the end of last year requesting the transfer of the necessary section 30 powers to hold a second referendum, and also called for the Scottish parliament to be given permanent powers to hold subsequent referendums on independence from the UK.

Describing the SNP’s success in the general election as an “unarguable mandate by any normal standard of democracy”, Sturgeon also published a 38-page document titled Scotland’s Right to Choose, to which Johnson has said he will give “careful consideration”.

On Thursday, the Guardian revealed that Scottish Labour was considering backing a second independence referendum in a reversal of policy by the party leader, Richard Leonard.

Leonard wants to hold a special conference in May to decide Scottish Labour’s position on a referendum, including the possibility of asking for a pro-federal option in a multi-option ballot.