Nicola Sturgeon launches another attack on Alex Salmond as Alba recruits 4,000 members
Nicola Sturgeon launches another attack on Alex Salmond as his new Alba Party recruits more than 4,000 members in its first week and poll put their support at three per cent
- Nicola Sturgeon says Salmond would have expected more defections to party
- Salmond’s new party Alba claims it has recruited more than 4,000 members
- Party says membership figure gives it more supporters than Scottish Lib Dems
- But a recent Survation poll found Alba will achieve only three per cent of vote
Nicola Sturgeon has launched a scathing attack on her pro-independence rival Alex Salmond – whose new party is set to take a meagre three per cent of the regional vote, according to a new poll.
The Scottish National Party is set to bring in 37 per cent of the vote in May’s Holyrood elections, with the pro-union Labour and the Conservatives trailing behind on 19 and 18 per cent respectively, new data shows.
Mr Salmond’s new party Alba claims to have brought in more than 4,000 members in the week since its launch, but the devastating new Survation poll shows the party will only get three per cent of the vote – behind both the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
This would leave the new party without a single MSP – a far cry from the 90-strong pro-independence ‘super-majority’ Mr Salmond claimed he could bring about.
Rubbing salt in the wounds, Nicola Sturgeon has now attacked her rival Mr Salmond, who she says would have been ‘wanting and expecting’ a larger number of politicians to defect to his new party from the SNP.
The party claims its recent swell of membership puts it ahead of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
The former Scottish first minister had made a dramatic return to frontline politics a week ago, when he was unveiled as the leader of the new pro-independence Alba Party.
That includes two MPs who were elected under an SNP banner, the former Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, and Neale Hanvey.
Speaking about the defections, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I suspect, knowing him as I used to, Alex Salmond would have been wanting and expecting a bigger defection of elected representatives from the SNP to his new party.
‘Kenny MacAskill has obviously not been that comfortable in the SNP for some time, so he has made his decisions, and he is entitled to make that decision.
‘I don’t know Neale obviously as well as I know Kenny. My principal experience of Neale during the 2019 election was having to suspend him from SNP membership because of anti-Semitic comments.’
She stressed that while individuals ‘make up their own minds on what party, if any party, they want to be members of’, she also questioned if there was a ‘duty’ for parliamentarians who switch allegiance to put themselves forward for re-election as part of their new party.
Such politicians ‘maybe have a duty to allow the voters to decide’, she stated.
More than 1,000 Scottish residents were surveyed for the Survation poll, carried out for DC Thomson on Monday and Tuesday this week, days after Alba’s high-profile launch.
On the constituency vote, the poll put the SNP on 49 per cent, followed by the Tories on 21 per cent, Labour on 20 per cent and the Lib Dems on 9 per cent.
On the regional list, the SNP is on 37 per cent, followed by the Tories on 18 per cent, Labour on 19 per cent, the Greens on 11 per cent, Lib Dems on 8 per cent, with Alba on 3 per cent.
It is estimated the result would mean the SNP would win a majority with 66 seats, followed by Labour on 24, the Tories on 21, the Greens on 11 and Lib Dems on seven.
The news comes as Alex Salmond recruited 4,000 members to his Alba Party in the first week of its launch, the party claims.
Alba founder Laurie Flynn said the milestone was surpassed on Friday afternoon, with membership numbers now at 4,100.
According to the party, its membership figure gives it more supporters than the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
The assertion is based on a listing of the party’s membership on its Wikipedia page, which shows numbers at 4,085 as of December 2018.
The news comes after a Survation poll found that Alba is on track to win just 3 per cent of the votes on the regional list
Mr Flynn said: ‘Little did I think when I founded the party the impact that it would have.
‘After exactly one week since our public launch, our membership has surged past that of the Liberal Democrats, a party which has been in existence for 150 years.’
However, the news comes after a Survation poll found that Alba is on track to win just 3 per cent of the votes on the regional list – which would leave the new party without a single seat.
It also showed that Mr Salmond is the most unpopular of Scotland’s mainstream political leaders, with 71 per cent of Scots viewing him unfavourably.
Despite this, Mr Flynn remained optimistic and added that Alba was ‘Scotland’s new political force’.
The Survation survey was done for newspaper publisher DC Thomson also found that more than half of those asked believed Mr Salmond was detrimental to the cause of independence.
On Thursday, the former first minister said his party’s membership figures are one of the reasons why it should be permitted into the leaders’ debates, and refused to rule out taking legal action if Alba was not invited.
The proportion who said they had a negative view of Mr Salmond was 71 per cent, with 56 per cent for Boris Johnson.
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice told The Courier newspaper: ‘The headline is that it looks as though it’s all over for Salmond, though he might just get a seat in the North-East himself.’
Deputy SNP leader Keith Brown said: ‘To ensure Nicola Sturgeon is the First Minister to lead us out of the pandemic, people need to give both votes to the SNP on May 6.’
An Alba spokesman said: ‘These early indications put Alba within touching distance of representation across Scotland. With five weeks still to go Alba’s support can only grow as we approach polling day.’
War over pro-independence vote: The high-profile defections from SNP to Alba
Pictured: Neale Hanvey
There have already been a number of high profile defections from the SNP to Alba, including current SNP MPs Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, as well as Chris McEleny and former MP George Kerevan.
Upon Mr MacAskill’s departure, he was branded an ’embarrassment’ by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who described the defection as a ‘relief’.
But Western Isles MP Mr MacNeil said he would not encourage such backbiting between the two parties.
‘The more parties of independence the better, eventually of course all parties will be parties of independence – same story in every country,’ he said.
‘Also I won’t be encouraging snide or smearing remarks about the Alba Party. We should instead be arguing against those trying to block independence, not denigrate those who are for it, and keeping the discourse positive.’
He added: ‘It makes the Scottish election very interesting indeed. Anybody who thinks independence is important will be pleased there are now two serious parties of independence rather than one.’
Despite the tactical voting pitch from Alba, which is calling for independence supporters to give them their votes on the regional list to create a ‘supermajority’ for independence, Mr MacNeil said he planned to give both of his votes to the SNP.
He told the paper: ‘I can see the argument people have when they use calculators and logic.
There have already been a number of high profile defections from the SNP to Alba, including current SNP MPs Kenny MacAskill
‘If all SNP votes were to transfer on the list to Alba you would have 30 odd Alba seats and 30 less London party MSPs, but of course that is using logic and sense. Using politics as I do and have to do, it’s both votes SNP of course.’
SNP MP Angus MacNeil said he ‘had no intention’ of joining Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.
Mr MacNeil’s closest political ally, Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, made the jump when the party was launched last week and will now stand on the party’s West Scotland list.
Both Mr MacNeil and Mr McEleny have pushed for a ‘plan B’ for Scottish independence from within the SNP, but to no avail.
With speculation rife about his possible departure from the party, Mr MacNeil told the National it was never a thought in his mind.
‘I had no intention of joining, it was never something I intended to do,’ he said.
‘I can’t say that I am unhappy that there is a change in the dial on the focus on independence in this election.’
Alex Salmond threatens broadcasters with legal action if he is barred from taking part in live TV debates ahead of the Scottish elections as he says there is an ‘unanswerable’ case for including his new Alba Party
- Alba leader is to write to broadcasters and regulator Ofcom to demand a place
- He was was unveiled as leader of Scotland’s newest political party last Friday
- Two SNP MPs have already defected along with a handful of councillors
- Alba fielding 32 candidates on the regional list section of the Holyrood ballot
Alex Salmond demanded his new Alba Party be included in TV debates in the run-up to May’s Scottish Parliament election today – and threatened broadcasters with legal action if he does not get his way.
The former SNP leader insisted there is an ‘unanswerable’ case for doing so and will write to the television stations and regulator Ofcom in a bid to ensure ‘fairness and parity of coverage’ in the election campaign.
It comes less than a week after Mr Salmond was unveiled as leader of Scotland’s newest political party – which is fielding 32 candidates on the regional list section of the Holyrood ballot.
Mr Salmond said he is ‘confident’ membership of his party will ‘overtake that of the Liberal Democrats‘ on Friday, claiming thousands of people have already joined Alba.
Mr Salmond said: ‘We have waited until the declaration of candidates before writing. Now given our strength, the case for Alba participation in debates and fair coverage is unanswerable. We expect a positive reply.’
Mr Salmond said he hopes his new political project does not have to take legal action to be included in Holyrood election TV debates, but claimed he would be ‘strongly tempted’.
The Alba Party leader said: ‘I’m certainly not ruling that out.’
The Alba Party was not included in the first televised debate of the Scottish election campaign, which saw Nicola Sturgeon – Mr Salmond’s successor as SNP leader and First Minister – take on her rivals from the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens.
The former SNP leader insisted there is an ‘unanswerable’ case for doing so and will write to the television stations and regulator Ofcom in a bid to ensure ‘fairness and parity of coverage’ in the election campaign
The Alba Party’s list of Holyrood candidates includes Mr Salmond himself and two members who were elected as SNP MPs at Westminster in the last general election – former Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, who was suspended from the SNP when he was elected to the Commons in 2019.
Mr Salmond said: ‘It is less than a week since launch and already Alba has a comparable number of members to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens and are contesting seats across Scotland.’
Labour only currently has one Scottish MP, and Mr Salmond highlighted that his party has ‘double the Westminster parliamentary representation of the Labour Party in Scotland’.
The Alba Party was not included in the first televised debate of the Scottish election campaign, which saw Nicola Sturgeon – Mr Salmond’s successor as SNP leader and First Minister – take on her rivals from the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens.
Mr Salmond insisted the importance of arguments over independence in the campaign means it is crucial his party is included in further debates.
He said his name had been ‘mentioned a number of times with no recourse’ in that first television debate.
He added: ‘There is however a further important reason favouring Alba inclusion in the leadership debates – the dominating issue of the election is independence. If the TV companies stick to their present position, every debate will be imbalanced three to two against independence. With Alba’s representation, at a stroke, the independence argument will be balanced three apiece.’
Speaking at an online press conference, Mr Salmond said: ‘Already, after less than a week since launch, we are a national party putting up a serious challenge and can argue we have got a significant following already.
‘We are firmly of the opinion at the rate of membership increase that our membership will overtake that of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
‘We expect in the coming weeks to overtake the membership of the Green Party and the Conservative Party as well, unless they of course have an unexpected surge in membership.
‘I think the Alba Party has added some excitement to the Scottish political scene, I think we would add something distinctive to the political debates.
‘I think more people will watch if Alba are participating than will watch if Alba are excluded in the debates.’
