Salmond and Galloway set to disrupt
ALEX Salmond and George Galloway are in line to get elected to a “disrupted” Holyrood in May, a poll has found. The former first minister’s pro-independence Alba is on course to secure six MSPs while Galloway is predicted to win a seat for his new Unionist outfit. A source warned of “severe disruption” to the Parliament if the two veterans become MSPs. Salmond, whose spectacular falling out with Nicola Sturgeon has dominated politics for months, launched Alba last month with the aim of creating a “super majority” of pro-indy MSPs.
Alba believes independence supporters should back the SNP in constituencies but vote for it on the regional lists. Sturgeon has blasted
Alba by saying their pitch could be seen as an attempt to “game” the system.
A poll by Panelbase shows the SNP on 49 per cent in the constituencies, the Tories on 22 per cent, Labour on 20 per cent, the Lib Dems on six per cent and the Greens on two per cent. In the regional lists, the SNP polled 39 per cent, the Tories 21 per cent, Labour 17 per cent, Greens eight per cent,
Alba six per cent, the Lib Dems five per cent and Galloway’s All for Unity four per cent.
A breakdown gives the SNP a slim majority but pro-independence parties are collectively forecast to win 79 of the 129 Holyrood seats.
The poll puts the SNP on 65 seats, the Tories on 24, Labour in third place on 20, Lib Dems on five, Greens on eight, Alba on six, and All for Unity on one. If elected, AFU has promised to stand up to the SNP against “Scottish separatism” and form a pro-Union government of “national unity”.
Galloway was a Labour MP in Glasgow before being expelled in 2003. He had two spells as an MSP and is living in Scotland again.
Gains by Alba and AFU are believed to be bad news for the Tories and Labour, which depend on the lists for most of their MSPs.