Series of SNP Scottish Government pamphlets is just carrying on their independence charade - John McLellan

They were supposed to be the milestones on the road to victory in an independence referendum this autumn, but a series of SNP Scottish Government pamphlets have only illustrated how little the separation cause has advanced.

(left to right) Jamie Hepburn, First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison at the launch of the recent Building a New Scotland prospectus paper which detailed plans for a new written constitution (Picture: Robert Perry/PA)

The fifth “Building a new Scotland” paper is unveiled today by First Minister Humza Yousaf and his £98,000-a-year minister for independence, Jamie Hepburn, and compared to the previous damp squibs it promises to be thoroughly saturated.

Only the most committed supporters will recall the contents of the first three – why the Union holds back Scotland (if that’s what you believe), renewing democracy, then a painfully thin, back-of-a-fag-packet look at the economy – because they were just a rehash of old arguments. The fourth, on why a written constitution was needed, was just as tired and one for politics students and the already persuaded.

The latest effort is expected to look at qualifications for citizenship and its benefits, which has generated precisely zero sense of anticipation because the vast majority of residents would expect to be entitled to their new Scottish passport – even high-profile Conservative supporters – so it is unlikely to tell anyone anything they didn’t already presume.

It might be holiday time, but how many voters lie awake at night dreaming about how much better consular support abroad will be if only Scotland was independent? Anyone trying to catch a ferry to the Hebrides this summer will probably have a good stab at an answer, and it won’t be lots.

The new paper will apparently outline how people could apply for citizenship, and it is possible a rabbit could be pulled from the hat, maybe some kind of Ellis Island “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” open door policy, but for wavering voters who can’t get a GP appointment or register with a dental practice, that would be more likely to put them off independence than to persuade them.

Whatever it says, the vast majority of Scots, including independence supporters, know there isn’t going to be a referendum this year or next, or the one after that.

They can see the SNP’s growing disarray, with every poll confirming how much its fortunes have reversed since the turn of the year, pushing their dream of breaking up Britain further over the rainbow.

But as long as the Nationalists are in power independence is official policy, and they can claim they are entitled to spend public money on a government aim. However, a survey seven months ago by pollsters Survation put opposition to Scottish Government spending on independence at 62 per cent, so carrying on regardless risks irritating more people than it satisfies.

That poll was before the Sturgeon resignation, the police investigation, the motorhome, the leadership bickering, the key policy U-turns, and the increasingly bitter Nationalist in-fighting, so if the question was asked now approval might be in single figures.

But having inherited the programme from Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf has little choice but to carry on with the charade, because not to do so would only encourage the likes of Fife SNP member Chris Hanlon who is now calling for a leadership challenge because the independence push is foundering.

Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil would agree, describing the SNP’s independence strategy as “clueless”. He won’t find any in today’s paper.