Salmond defiant despite Alba winning no seats
ALEX Salmond has insisted his party is “here to stay” and hit out at Nicola Sturgeon for “losing her nerve” over independence.
The former First Minister accused Ms Sturgeon of “prevaricating” on the constitution as his attempt at a political comeback failed.
The Alba Party, of which he is leader, failed to gain any seats in the Holyrood election, effectively ending Mr Salmond’s career in mainstream Scottish politics.
Mr Salmond said his party had helped the SNP, as it took “venom” from the media and made the SNP appear moderate.
Appearing on the Through A Scottish Prism podcast, Mr Salmond attacked the mainstream media and said Alba was “shut out” of the TV debates.
Elsewhere, he accused the SNP of “Grand Old Duchess of York behaviour” and “prevaricating” over independence. He said: “I think Alba is needed because it’s filling a vacuum, and I think it will grow because ... Nicola will prevaricate. Nicola lost her nerve on independence back in 2017 and has never recovered it – it’s as simple as that.”
He said Alba will grow when it is demonstrated the party’s argument is correct, adding: “There will be a million wasted SNP votes on the regional list.”
Mr Salmond also attacked senior SNP figures, calling the party’s MP John Nicolson “the ultimate poser” who has “done nothing whatsoever for the independence movement of any shape or form in his puff”.
He said: “Many of the SNP leadership are among the most graceless people I’ve ever come across.”
‘Unlikely’
ON Friday, the first day that results were announced, Mr Salmond conceded to the BBC that Alba was unlikely to make an electoral breakthrough.
He said his party had “put up a good, substantial show and I think probably we’ll take out of this election that the arguments we’ve been putting forward are going to be proven to be correct.”
He said that “perhaps a million, perhaps even more than a million, SNP votes on the regional list are going to elect perhaps one, perhaps two MSPs on that section of the ballot paper across Scotland. What a waste.”
Alba candidates stood on the regional lists across Scotland in the hope of attracting votes from pro-independence Scots. The party argues list votes are “wasted” on the SNP.
Mr Salmond launched Alba on March 26 with the intention of creating a “supermajority” of Yes MSPs to put pressure on Boris Johnson to concede Indyref2 or legitimise other tactics. Nicola Sturgeon ruled out working with his party almost immediately.
After it was clear Mr Salmond, or his party’s other candidates, were not going to be elected, he issued a lengthy statement saying the party was “here to stay”.
He boasted that Alba had “established itself as a political force” with “more than 5,000 members and 40,000 votes”.
He said: “With two MPs at Westminster and councillors, the length and breadth of the country, we will continue to make our voice heard loud and clear in the coming months.
“I am proud of our 32 candidates and the campaign that we fought putting independence front and centre and injecting urgency into the need to deliver independence.
“I congratulate Nicola on her victory but, of course, with victory comes responsibility.
“The incoming SNP Government must now deliver on their promise to take Scotland towards independence. And there is no excuse for them not to do so.”
‘Pointless’
MR Salmond said that one of the points his party had made, that a vote for the SNP on the list was pointless, had been “vindicated”, and said the SNP had caused the independence movement to be “the loser”. He said: “A key argument advanced by Alba in this election has been totally and comprehensively vindicated.
“Alba warned that SNP votes would be wasted on the list and elect zero SNP MSPs in almost every region and that is exactly what has happened. Yet again up to a million SNP votes wasted.
“In contrast, in the constituencies, Unionist parties have been successful in persuading voters to vote tactically to stop the SNP in seats the SNP should have won such as Dumbarton and Eastwood.
“Yet while the Unionists voted smart the SNP persisted with the mantra of ‘Both Votes SNP’ knowing that it would fail to elect SNP MSPs, but worse than that, that it would allow Tory and Labour MSPs in by the back door. The SNP sent their troops over the top to waste their votes and it is Scotland and the wider independence movement that is the loser. An independence supermajority would have strengthened Scotland against Westminster making it much more difficult for Boris Johnson to reject a huge independence majority of a whole parliament representing a whole nation.”
Several SNP and Labour politicians said privately they were relieved Mr Salmond was not being returned to Holyrood.
Others were publicly critical, including from the Tories and the SNP.
‘Nonsense’
ANDREW Bowie, Conservative MP, said Mr Salmond’s party would now provide light entertainment on the fringes of Scottish politics. He said: “Watching the results come in from across the UK, we’ve seen some fantastic colourful candidates, for example Count Binface, the Monster Raving Loony Party ... and I think Alba is up there with them and they are going to inject a bit of nonsense into Scottish politics from time to time.
“They will probably go the way of Count Binface, and the Monster Raving Loony Party and be an interesting diversion from the serious issue of getting this country back on track. They will stay on the sidelines of Scottish politics, I think.”
SNP MP Stewart McDonald said Alba were the “Japanese knotweed” of Scottish politics, while Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservative leader, said Mr Salmond should not have returned to frontline political life. Mr Ross said: “He should never have come back, I said he was a totally unsuitable person to seek elected office again.
“He claims – as he has – that he’s been cleared by court cases etc but he accepted his own behaviour fell well below the standard expected of someone in elected office. And I think it was wrong for him to seek election again and the people of the North East have been very clear they don’t want him.”