SNP BID TO BREAK UP BRITAIN IN TATTERS
Disaster for Salmond as biggest referendum poll predicts crushing defeat for nationalists
ALEX Salmond faces a crushing defeat in next year’s referendum, according to the results of an unprecedented test of public opinion. A ‘super poll’ which canvassed the views of more than 10,000 Scots found support for independence at just 26 per cent.
A staggering 65 per cent of voters say they plan to vote ‘ No’ in the contest, with one year to go before the country’s future is decided.
The survey, arranged by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, who specialises in polling, also found that Scots want Mr Salmond to ditch his obsession with separation.
Nearly half of voters say independence is the ‘main priority’ for the SNP administration at Holyrood, but only 3 per cent agree it should be at the top of the Government’s agenda.
Ministers should focus on the economy and jobs, according to 41 per cent, while 14 per cent see Scotland’s struggling NHS as the main priority.
However, despite huge opposition to independence, the poll suggests that Mr Salmond’s SNP would still beat Labour in a Holyrood election. The fieldwork for the mammoth study began in February, prompting claims from some nationalists that
Turn to Page 8
ALEX Salmond is facing a gruelling by-election battle amid opposition demands for an inquiry following the resignation of disgraced MSP Bill Walker.
Voters in Dunfermline, Fife, will have the chance to elect a new MSP after convicted wifebeater Walker finally quit at the weekend.
Walker, who was found guilty of 23 counts of domestic abuse against three former wives and a stepdaughter, was elected as a Nationalist MSP in Mr Salmond’s 2011 landslide victory.
But his majority was only 590 and the Scottish Daily Mail understands that Labour is planning to ‘throw everything’ at the constituency i n an effort to humiliate Mr Salmond.
Yesterday, all three opposition parties piled pressure on the SNP and demanded to know how Walker was selected.
A member of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s staff was presented with claims about Walker’s violent character in 2008 by Rob Armstrong, brother-inlaw of the politician’s third wife.
Scottish Labour MSP for South Scotland Graeme Pearson said: ‘As a former police chief, I have investigated a few alibis in my time and I think people need to check Nicola Sturgeon’s. It simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
‘The SNP had the knowledge to stop a now-convicted wife-beater from entering our parliament. They didn’t. We need to know why.’
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie added: ‘Removing Bill Walker from the parliament was the priority.
‘But now that he’s gone I am requesting the SNP commission an independent-led inquiry into these events and their internal processes. We need to know how this was allowed to happen, why a decision was made not to properly investigate the allegations and who made the decision. ‘There are lessons to learn.’ Walker, 71, blamed a ‘ media onslaught’ for his decision to quit. ‘It has been increasingly difficult for my wife and my staff to deal with the media interest in my case,’ he said.
‘That same media onslaught has also made it impossible to properly represent my constituents and their interests.’
A spokesman for the SNP said: ‘After Bill Walker’s expulsion from the party last year, SNP president Ian Hudghton MEP carried out a review of our assessment procedures.
‘As a result, changes have since been made to our internal procedures to ensure that in future any relevant information about a potential candidate – whether backed by hard evidence or not – is passed to the election committee.
‘In regard to Walker, the investigation conducted by a member of staff at SNP HQ did not find any evidence of any complaint in law or legal proceedings into domestic violence by Walker, and the inquiry was then closed. It is, of course, the case that knowing what is now known about Bill Walker, we all wish that he had been prevented from becoming an SNP candidate.
‘Indeed, as soon as the evidence of the charges he was convicted of came to light, he was expelled from the party.’
In the 2011 election, Walker beat Labour’s Alex Rowley – former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s election agent and right-hand man.
It is not known if Mr Rowley will stand again and some observers expect an all-women shortlist. Fiona Yates, the daughter of Cowdenbeath MSP Helen Eadie and a member of a political dynasty in Fife, has been linked with the seat.
For the SNP, the front runner is former Lothian MSP ShirleyAnne Somerville. She lives in North Queensferry and is a director at pro-independence campaign Yes Scotland.
Nationalist activist and blogger Natalie McGarry, a columnist in the local Dunfermline Press, is also tipped as a potential candidate.
The only Holyrood by-election held since the 2011 contest was in Aberdeen Donside earlier this year, where the SNP’s massive majority of more than 7,000 was slashed to just over 2,000.
The LibDems will also fiercely contest the Dunfermline seat, where former MSP Jim Tolson came third in 2011 as voters punished his party for joining the Tories in the Coalition.
Lib Dem leader Mr Rennie will come under pressure to stand, as he is a mid-Scotland and Fife regional MSP and has represented Dunfermline and West Fife as an MP.
However, he would need to stand down as a list MSP and is unlikely to wi n the by-election.