ASH Regan has vowed to treat every election as an independence vote until she wins if she becomes First Minister.

In a bid to woo over SNP diehards, the ex-Community Safety Minister re-branded Nicola Sturgeon’s de facto referendum plans – and pledged to make leaving the UK a “priority”.

Unveiling her “voter empowerment mechanism” plans, Ms Regan insisted a majority vote for pro-independence parties at a Holyrood or Westminster election would see her government begin negotiations to leave the UK.

And in an interview with The Scottish Sun, she claimed that the plans mean “we won’t ever need to say the word referendum again in the Scottish Parliament”.

At her campaign launch in North Queensferry, Ms Regan said the “referendum mechanism had been exhausted, including the so-called de facto referendum proposal.”

Despite attempting to distance herself from Nicola Sturgeon’s election plans, the ex-minister’s proposals appeared incredibly similar to those put forward by the current FM.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters