ON DAY OF REFERENDUM THAT NEVER WAS, SALMOND SAYS SNP HAVE “ABDICATED LEADERSHIP OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT”

“October 19th 2023 was designated by the SNP last year as “Referendum Day”. But instead of a celebration of democracy to take the country forward, the SNP have abdicated any claim to leadership of the National Movement.”

This was said by former First Minister, Alex Salmond, speaking from the polling station in his home village of Strichen, Aberdeenshire. ALBA Party activists from Aberdeenshire gathered at the Ritchie Hall to mark “the referendum that never was”

Mr Salmond continued:

“In the lee of the SNP Conference it is clear that the SNP, for the first time in its history, have no idea on how to progress Scotland to independence. The hotchpotch of a motion passed at the Conference commits the SNP to seeking a “democratic effect” if they win the election next year. In other words, they are going to continue to plead with Westminster for a referendum as they have been doing unavailingly since the Brexit vote of 2016. There is not a single person in the country who believes that this strategy vacuum has any scintilla of a hope of success.

The SNP are now caught in the Einstein definition of insanity - doing exactly the same thing time after time but claiming to expect a different result. Having kicked a referendum into the long grass for seven years, the SNP now intend to kick a “de facto poll” into the long grass. Virtually no one in Scotland, and crucially in Westminster, now believes that the SNP have any seriousness of intent on independence. They have abdicated any claim to leadership of the National Movement.”