Neil urges pro-indy party unity

FORMER SNP health secretary Alex Neil has called on Nicola Sturgeon to join forces with other parties after the election to demand “urgent negotiations” with Boris Johnson on independence.

Neil said while there must be focus on the pandemic, there “is no reason why we should not also be pursuing our constitutional demands at the same time”. Neil, who is stepping down as an MSP, served in government under Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond, who now leads the rival Alba Party.

Salmond wants to create a “supermajority” for independence but Sturgeon said she will not work with him.

Backed by fellow retiring SNP MSP, Gil Paterson, Neil added: “To fully recover economically from the pandemic we will need the tools that only independence can give us to do that successfully.”