Scottish Independence: Alex Salmond writes to all SNP Members of Parliament Urging Them to Back General Election Independence Pact
ALEX SALMOND has written to all SNP Members of Parliament to urge them to back a Scotland United for Independence pact at the next General Election.
The ALBA Party leader and former First Minister of Scotland wants pro-independence political parties to unite at the Westminster poll so that a single candidate stands in each constituency representing the independence cause. The vast majority of these candidates would be sitting SNP MPs but it is proposed there should also be ALBA Party, Green Party and some independent candidates supporting the national cause.
Mr Salmond says “At a time when Westminster is refusing to agree to a referendum, a single pro-independence candidate on each ballot paper creates the opportunity for a Scotland United victory to provide the mandate to enter straight into independence negotiations with the UK Government”.
The ALBA Party leader believes that in order to face down the UK Government, there must be a “Scotland United” approach to the General Election; “Back in 2014, support for the SNP was at near 50% and support for independence was around 30% at the start of the referendum campaign. Now we have the opposite - support for independence is about 50% and it is the support for the SNP which is much lower” said Salmond.
Mr Salmond and his ALBA Party say that if the General Election is fought on a purely party party-political then the SNP will suffer losses and this will put progress towards independence backwards.
Instead, ALBA proposes that the independence movement unites at the General Election to make independence the central issue of the campaign. In his letter to SNP members of Parliament, Salmond points out that “at a stroke, the entire dynamic of the election will change. The focus will no longer be on how many SNP seats will be lost to Labour but how many of the ten remaining Unionist seats will be lost to the Scotland United coalition. Election debate will be centred on independence and how to get it, and not on the government record or current internal difficulties of Scotland’s major party.”
Salmond says that if such a situation resulted in a majority at the election voting in favour of independence, then this would provide a mandate for the Scottish Government to commence independence negations with Westminster and for those elected to start the process of “settling up for Scotland”.
In his letter, Salmond claims that the idea of the independence parties working together has overwhelming support in the wider national movement and asks each SNP MP to give the proposal active consideration in the run-up to the SNP strategy conference on June 24th.
