FORMER Scottish Conservative communications chief Andy MacIver says Tories privately admit there is a mandate for a new independence referendum – and thinks there will be a vote in 2023 or 2024.

MacIver, now a media commentator and director at PR consultancy Message Matters, told STV’s Scotland Tonight that it is “perfectly obvious” there is a mandate for indyref2.

At last week’s Scottish Parliament election, a majority of pro-independence MSPs were elected. The SNP returned 64 MSPs, one short of an outright majority, and the Greens secured eight seats. Both parties ran on a platform of holding a fresh ballot in the next parliament.

READ MORE: You will never win fight against democracy, Boris Johnson told

Since the election senior Tories have sought to downplay the mandate and swerved questions over whether the UK Government would block legislation on a new referendum in the courts.

The National:

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove simply said it would be “diverting attention” away from key issues if people focus on referenda and constitutions.

In a call with the Prime Minister following the election results, Nicola Sturgeon said there will be another referendum and it is now a “matter of when, not if”.

On Scotland Tonight, MacIver was asked what he thinks the prospects of indyref2 are now.

“I think already privately attitudes in the Tory Party are starting to soften a little bit,” he told presenter John MacKay. “If you catch them privately they know there’s a mandate. It’s perfectly obvious there’s a mandate.”

He went on: “The election was purely about the referendum, that’s what both main parties said it was about. And that’s what people voted on the basis of. In this country we don’t need a majority of seats for a mandate that’s not how the Scottish Parliament works, nor do we need a majority of votes.

“So I think attitudes are beginning to soften a little bit and ultimately I think they realise the pressure will just become too great. I think democratic pressure from overseas could be there, I think they feel put under pressure by the fact Labour and the LibDems, I think, will acknowledge the mandate at some point relatively soon as well. I think ultimately it will happen at some point, maybe in 2023, 2024.”

The National:

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford yesterday told the Tories they are living in a “parallel universe” after they claimed there is no mandate.

During a Queen’s Speech debate in the House of Commons, Blackford said there is now a “fresh democratic commitment to give the Scottish people the right to choose an independent future”.

“There is a mandate for an independence referendum and let me put this House on notice – it’s the people of Scotland and our Parliament that will determine when that independence referendum will take place,” he told MPs.