Alba will build on the strategy left by Alex Salmond

THE double-digit lead for independence found by polling for The National was welcome news – perhaps long overdue as our nation’s plight in the Union worsens. Austerity under Rachel Reeves, institutionalised cruelty being imposed upon pensioners, disabled people and the poor, and now deindustrialisation in our commercial heartland.

Other polls will come and go and might not be as good. But as well as being a massive fillip to morale, it’s also a base from which to build. It’s confirmation that the support is there and what’s needed is activity and a plan. It’s what we do with it that matters now. We’ve had similar good news in the past and have let the chance go, arguably when the UK was in a weaker position and willing to make concessions such as obtained by Northern Ireland retaining access to the single market. But that’s in the past and in the past it must remain. Now’s the time not to look back and blame but look forward and prepare.

As Holyrood 2026 approaches, it’s time to get ready and be prepared to strike. We’ve been told in the past to stay calm and trust in the leadership. There was a plan, they knew what they were doing and all would come good.

Foot soldiers and activists were told just to keep the faith and wheesht. Maybe there was a cunning plan but it certainly never materialised and rather than readying the movement, activists were told to stand down and leave it to the few.

Yet the strength of the campaign in 2014 was the many. The Yes movement’s breadth and diversity, and that it was largely bottom up not top down, was what galvanised it. The leadership and voice of Alex Salmond was vital but the real strength was the activists in communities across our land.

From the housing schemes through to the artists and writers, the call of hope and the opportunity for a better land echoed out loud and proud. As I said at Alex’s memorial service: “He made us walk tall.”

It wasn’t to be as we came close but just not close enough. But never forget how far we travelled and the odds, never mind the powers, that were ranged against us. It was a remarkable result in the circumstances.

No wonder Alex told me that on his return to Westminster in 2015, Ian Paisley, the DUP MP, said we’d “loosened the top off the bottle”.

Opportunities came and went, including at the Holyrood election in 2021. The Alba Party was formed to provide the basis for an independence supermajority. That would not just have given us control of the Parliament but offered the option of collapsing it and forcing an election, one that could have been used as a surrogate referendum and given us the mandate for independence.

That was rejected summarily by Nicola Sturgeon, and Alex was traduced unashamedly. History has vindicated and will further vindicate my friend. The folly of going to the UK Supreme Court simply compounded the failure of the approach invoked by the then FM.

Alex's strategy would have not only offered those opportunities, it would avoided the SNP-Green arrangement and the fallout that has bedevilled the movement ever since. The gender recognition legislation was prioritised while the North Sea and Grangemouth were shunned or downplayed.

But we need to go again and the Alba Party intend, as we ready for an election which is so critical for our nation’s future, to co-operate with other independence parties and work with the many more who are in no party. That has always been our strategy, and it will continue to be. 

Overtures from Dave Thompson and Christians for Independence have been welcomed and those from others will also be warmly received.

Attendance at marches and rallies will continue, as will co-operation with groups and individuals seeking to advance our common cause.

This coming election has to be made a plebiscite election. The Supreme Court decision on a referendum left the use of a democratic event open. That must be used, and Alba will be standing on a manifesto of viewing a majority of votes for pro-independence parties as the mandate for independence.

Ahead of the election, Alba will be building on the strategy our founder bequeathed us and which our conference overwhelmingly approved – contesting the list only while advising people to vote for other independence-supporting parties in the constituency. That will almost invariably be the SNP.

We understand there are some who will balk at that or the individuals they’re being asked to support. Our advice will be that the cause is greater than any individual but if you feel that strongly at least don’t vote for a Unionist.

But on the list, it should be Alba. We were established for that reason, are registered with the Electoral Commission, have the experience from past campaigns and are good to go. We are already vetting candidates and gearing up the party nationally.

My Alba colleague and erstwhile SNP colleague at Westminster Angus Brendan McNeill made a barnstorming speech at our conference showing the folly and futility of SNP one and two. All that did was hand list seats to Unionists – opponents rather than independence comrades. That argument has been recognised by many in the SNP with Councillor Gordon Murray writing eloquently of the past failure and the coming opportunity of SNP one and Alba two.

Our nation’s fate depends on it. Alba will be taking that message out across the movement and the country. Working together with others but seeking list votes for Alba – for independence and for Alex.

[This article was first published in The National on 21.04.25]