ALBA Party Chair Tasmina-Ahmed Sheikh comments in advance of Saturday’s Special Independence National Assembly

Commenting ahead of Alba Party’s independence assembly in Edinburgh this weekend, Party Chair Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has called on the Scottish Government not to abandon the referendum strategy of the independence movement.

The Alba Party Chair has also said that if the Scottish Government do wish to turn an election into a defacto referendum on Scottish independence then they should dissolve the Scottish Parliament and hold the plebiscite on the 19th of October this year - the date that the Scottish Government promised it would hold an independence referendum.

Commenting Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh said:

“Immediately after the Supreme Court’s veto on Scottish democracy, the ALBA Party convened a National Assembly in Perth in November and hundreds of activists from across the independence movement attended.

“Many ideas were brought forward and we are holding a follow up Assembly open to the public on Saturday in Edinburgh with well over 300 delegates registered already. The Party will then set a formal policy on Independence strategy at our National Council next month.

“It is bitterly disappointing that the Scottish Government have abandoned the referendum strategy that helped create the modern independence movement. The Westminster establishment has never been weaker and has never been more lacking in international standing - this is the perfect set of circumstances to mobilise and bend Westminster to Scotland’s democratic will. If Alex Salmond was still First Minister, against this backdrop, Scotland would be independent by now.

“If the Scottish Government do wish to turn an election into a defacto referendum then they should take matters completely out of the hands of Westminster. They should dissolve the Scottish Parliament and hold a defacto referendum on the 19th of October this year, the promised date for Scotland’s independence vote. This way Scotland controls the franchise, not Westminster and hundreds of thousands of young people and EU Nationals will not be deprived a vote. In any “de facto referendum” then every vote for a pro-independence party should count as a vote for independence and the mandate sought should be to begin independence negotiations.”