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What next for the Alba party following Salmond death?

The Alba party, founded by Alex Salmond in 2021, is yet to see any of its candidates win a seat in an election.

Nick Forbes
Sunday 13 October 2024 10:55 EDT
Alex Salmond founded the Alba party in 2021 with the aim of delivering a ā€˜supermajorityā€™ for independence in the Scottish Parliament (Jane Barlow/PA)
Alex Salmond founded the Alba party in 2021 with the aim of delivering a ā€˜supermajorityā€™ for independence in the Scottish Parliament (Jane Barlow/PA) (PA Wire)

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With the sudden death of its talismanic founder and leader Alex Salmond, the Alba party, with just one MSP and two local councillors, faces difficult questions.

Alex Salmond founded the Alba party in March 2021 with the aim of delivering a ā€œsupermajorityā€ for Scottish independence in the Scottish Parliament.

In a speech he delivered at the partyā€™s launch, the former first minister said the plan was to use the regional list mechanism in Scotlandā€™s electoral system to mop up ā€œnearly one million wasted SNP votesā€.

The partyā€™s strategic aims are clear and unambiguous - to achieve a successful, socially just and environmentally responsible independent country

Alex Salmond

The aim, he said, was to ensure ā€œ90 or even moreā€ of Holyroodā€™s 129 seats went to independence-supporting candidates.

ā€œThe partyā€™s strategic aims are clear and unambiguous ā€“ to achieve a successful, socially just and environmentally responsible independent country,ā€ he said.

ā€œThe tactics are to stand on the regional list to secure the supermajority for independence in our Parliament.ā€

In the event the party won just 1.7% of the vote and failed to win any seats, an outcome it repeated at the 2022 local elections and 2024 UK general election, where the party failed to get any of its candidates elected.

Indeed, Albaā€™s only parliamentary representation to date has come from defectors from other parties.

MPs Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey defected from the SNP in 2021, and in 2023 one-time SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan became the partyā€™s only MSP when she defected from the SNP, saying her former party had ā€œlost its focus on independenceā€.

Alex had already founded the modern SNP, taking it to success, and he was embarking on doing it yet again in a different political party

Kenny MacAskill, Alba Party deputy leader

Ms Regan had previously served as community safety minister in the Scottish Government, but quit that position in 2022 so she could vote against the SNPā€™s controversial gender recognition reforms as they went through Holyrood.

During the 2024 election campaign Mr Salmond criticised the lack of action to ā€œmove the dial on independenceā€ since the 2014 referendum.

He described his former partyā€™s approach to independence as a ā€œmysteryā€, and insisted that Alba was now the ā€œnatural home for independence supportersā€.

Mr MacAskill, who is now the Alba partyā€™s deputy leader, said despite the ā€œissuesā€ facing the party things were ā€œcoming together,ā€ and Mr Salmond had been working towards replicating the electoral success he had enjoyed with the SNP.

ā€œWhen I was last meeting with him, and it wasnā€™t that long ago, very, very recently, things were coming together for Alex, and indeed, things are looking far more propitious for the Alba party,ā€ he said.

ā€œAlex was chirpy and cheery. He was always a cheery chap in many ways, he certainly gave that public perception, even when privately there were issues challenging.

ā€œBut as I say, I think Alex had already founded the modern SNP, taking it to success, and he was embarking on doing it yet again in a different political party.ā€

Mr MacAskill would not be drawn on what the future might hold for an Alba party bereft of a leader whose record in Scottish politics he described as ā€œunsurpassedā€.

ā€œAt the present moment, this is a time to grieve. Itā€™s the time to reflect on Alexā€™s legacy,ā€ he said.

ā€œBut I think all of us who are in the Alba party share Alexā€™s comments that the dream shall never die.

ā€œBut at the present moment, this is the time to remember Alex, what he contributed to our country and the better society that he made.ā€

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