Voters will be pawns in years of SNP splits and divisions
Lib Dem leader warns of ‘never-ending arguments’
ALEX Salmond’s new party will damage support for the SNP and independence because voters will be horrified at the prospect of five years of ‘splits, division and poison’, it has been claimed.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats yesterday rejected a plea from the Conservatives to join a pro-Union alliance to stop the threat of an independence ‘supermajority’ – as they believe it would damage the prospect of winning back voters from the SNP.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie insisted the move is not necessary.
He believes voters are already turning away from the SNP because of the threat of a ‘never-ending argument’ between Nicola Sturgeon and Mr Salmond.
Labour strategists also believe around one in four voters who have backed Miss Sturgeon’s party in the past are ‘soft SNP’ supporters who are not strongly in favour of independence and could be persuaded to switch to a pro-Union party.
But the Tories fear that if 6 per cent of voters back Mr Salmond’s new Alba Party on the regional list then it could win seven seats – including four from pro-Union parties – and this would substantially grow if it hit 10-12 per cent of support.
Mr Rennie said he believes the arrival of Mr Salmond’s party will force Miss Sturgeon to talk more about independence during the campaign.
He said: ‘I’m quite relaxed because the SNP are not in control of their own agenda any more and I think the overall nationalist vote will go down because it will have to take a tilt more towards a hardline independence position, when Nicola’s own evidence might be that’s not what gets most votes. It will become more hardline nationalist and that will deter moderates.
‘Moderate, reasonable people will be horrified by that. They will also be horrified that, if they get their way, the next parliament will be dominated by two things: a never-ending argument between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon and a never-ending argument about independence.’
If an independence majority happens, he said the SNP and Alba will spend the summer thrashing out strategy then months or years talking about tactics such as street protests – and people will be ‘filled with dread’ at the prospect.
He also claimed that Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross’s suggestion of a pro-Union alliance would damage attempts to win back voters by telling them the focus must be on the coronavirus recovery, rather than an independence debate.
Mr Rennie said: ‘There’s potential to reduce the overall nationalist vote because people will be horrified that the next parliament will be dominated by fights between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon and the whole independence issue.
‘The idea Alex Salmond is going to parliament to help Nicola is nonsense. It’s to carry on the arguments with her.
‘There will be a massive, big rammy over the next five years over independence and over the sexual harassment stuff. I think it will be ugly and I think people want to reject that.
‘I know there are people that are horrified by the arguments, the splits, the division and the poison.’ Writing in yesterday’s Mail, Mr Ross said he wants to consider a pro-UK tactical voting campaign.
He said: ‘To stop an SNP majority and stop this new nationalist threat, I am willing to discuss what it would mean to tactically vote and how to maximise the pro-UK vote in constituencies.’
Mr Ross also made an unprecedented offer to consider standing down candidates in some constituency seats to help the bestplaced pro-Union candidate defeat the SNP. Labour sources say pro-Union parties would suffer badly only if Alba wins more than 10 per cent of the vote on the regional list. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘Douglas keeps talking about this Unionist pact. ‘I asked him to grow up a few days ago and I’m going to emphasise something now: he knows I do not support independence or a second independence referendum but what he is trying to do is play a game because he has no ideas about how we unite our country around the recovery plan. ‘We cannot focus this election on the binary choices that both the SNP and the Tories want to confront the people with.’
He said the country needs to be brought together not be distracted by ‘those old arguments, egos and settling of scores’.
Scottish Conservative candidate Annie Wells said: ‘Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour just don’t seem to get how real the threat of another independence referendum is.
‘It is hugely disappointing to see him once again reject our calls to join together and stand up to the threats from the nationalists. The nationalists only want our parliament focused on breaking up our United Kingdom over the next five years, rather than our postCovid recovery.
‘Only the Scottish Conservatives are demonstrating that we are strong enough to stop an SNP majority and are the party able to unite the anti-referendum vote just as we did in 2016.’
Meanwhile, Dr Jan Eichhorn, a senior lecturer in social policy at Edinburgh University, yesterday published a blog article saying the Alba Party faces ‘a major hurdle in having Alex Salmond, a leader who is very unpopular with many people in Scotland’.
He said ‘the overall picture looks bad indeed for the party’.
Dr Eichhorn said this was due to recent polling indicating that only 14 per cent of Scots have a very favourable or fairly favourable view of Mr Salmond, while 26 per cent have a ‘somewhat unfavourable’ view and 48 per cent say they are ‘very unfavourable’.
He said it ‘seems to be a tall order’ that it will be able to persuade enough of its target voters to win enough seats
Dr Eichhorn added: ‘The party’s potential for success will depend on whether it can mobilise its apparent target group of socially conservative pro-independence voters while convincing some others to vote for the party despite its leader.’
‘There will be a massive rammy’ ‘People horrified by the arguments’