Independence issue has ‘gone cold’ since Holyrood election, says Salmond

THE independence issue has “gone cold” since the Holyrood election, Alex Salmond has said, as he took another swipe at the Scottish Government.

The former first minister said it seemed “strange” that it was deemed safe to hold the Euros and the COP26 climate summit, but not a second referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will seek to hold another vote on Scotland’s future “when the crisis is over”.

Mr Salmond made the remarks as he announced his Alba Party will hold its inaugural conference in September at Greenock Town Hall.

Speaking outside Wembley Stadium in advance of yesterday’s match against England, Mr Salmond said he hoped upwards of 750 delegates would be able to attend the conference, depending on coronavirus restrictions.

Alba failed to win any seats at the Holyrood election in May, despite seeking to create an independence “supermajority” in the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Salmond said: “It strikes me as passing strange that if you can hold Euro 2020, if you can hold a Scottish election, and if you can hold the COP26 summit in

Glasgow, then why on earth can’t you hold a Scottish independence referendum?

“Perhaps the requisite enthusiasm is not there to push that case forward, because the constitutional issue has gone cold since the Scottish election and we’ve got to heat it up again.

“If our suspicions are confirmed then come September the wind from the River Clyde will be blowing firmly in Alba’s direction at our historic inaugural conference in Greenock Town Hall.”

The Alba Party conference will be held on September 11 and 12.

Chris Mceleny, Alba’s interim general secretary, said: “I am delighted to have secured Greenock as the location for the conference and will be setting out in the coming weeks how our members can help shape the agenda of the conference and our policy direction going forward.”

Mr Salmond previously said

Alba will contest next year’s council elections.

The party claims its membership has continued to grow on a weekly basis since the election.

Speaking last month, Mr Salmond said: “There is a mandate for independence and we must see that mandate exercised. Our objective, because we are not an ordinary political party, is to help secure the independence of our country.

“Alba has a role, it has a significance, and that role will develop, grow and bloom over the next few years.”

A spokesman for the SNP said: “The only party in Scotland capable of delivering independence is the SNP.

“Once the pandemic is over, the people of Scotland will be given a choice over their future, whether to put their future in the hands of Boris Johnson or into their own hands with independence.”