Salmond is fighting for his political life

The re-emergence of Alex Salmond into public life has been the story of the Scottish election campaign so far. The former first minister’s throwing of the Alba Party cat among the pigeons is a classic political power play.

There has been much speculation over his personal and political motivations in launching Alba.

That backdrop has been pored over on thousands of occasions but what is less clear is what impact Scotland’s newest political party – which has attracted both support and scorn – might have at the polls.

A new Survation poll of more than 1,000 Scots, exclusively produced for this newspaper, does not make for good reading for a man who once bestrode the political scene and was considered a colossus of the independence movement.

It suggests he no longer is an aid to independence and is, in fact, hindering the cause he has devoted his lifetime to achieving.

The poll also suggests his personal popularity has waned to a point of toxicity among the voting public.

Professor Sir John Curtice, whose predictions carry real weight in the political world, has all but sounded the death knell on Alba before it even really gets off the ground.

Mr Salmond will have his own view of things and will, no doubt, have some vote-inducing rabbits yet to pull from the hat.

But if voters follow the intentions suggested by our poll on May 6 then Alex Salmond’s latest – and perhaps most bold – political gamble will not only have failed but will have backfired quite spectacularly.

It is difficult to see where he could go from there.