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Alba Party
Scottish political party From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Alba Party (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaidh Alba; Alba being the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland) is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. Founded in February 2021, it was led by former first minister of Scotland and SNP leader Alex Salmond until his death in 2024. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021, with the party standing only region (list) candidates, but no constituency candidates.
Two members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons defected from the Scottish National Party (SNP) to the Alba Party on 27 March 2021, and a member of the Scottish Parliament Ash Regan defected on 28 October 2023 before leaving in 2025. Several former SNP MPs also joined the Alba Party.
In the 2024 general election, the Alba Party stood candidates in 19 constituencies across Scotland but achieved just 11,784 votes and won no seats. All their candidates lost their deposits.[15]
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History
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Background
Alex Salmond served as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 1990 to 2000 and again from 2004 to 2014, and as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014.[citation needed] He was succeeded in both positions in 2014 by his former deputy, Nicola Sturgeon. Salmond resigned from the SNP in 2018 following accusations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.[16] He was acquitted of charges made against him in a subsequent court case in March 2020.[17] Later that year, the possibility of Salmond leading a new party supporting Scottish independence was discussed, in the context of a feud between Sturgeon and Salmond, who accused Sturgeon's "inner circle" of plotting against him.[18] Polling conducted in July 2020 reported that 40% of those who voted SNP at the 2019 general election would back a new independence-supporting party if it was led by Salmond.[18][19]
Founding
The party was founded and registered with the Electoral Commission by the retired television producer Laurie Flynn on 8 February 2021.[citation needed][20] Alba (pronounced [ˈal̪ˠapə] in Scottish Gaelic and Scottish English, /ˈælbə/ in British English[21]) is the Gaelic name for Scotland.[22] On 26 March 2021, Salmond announced at the party's election launch that he had joined the party and would become the new leader, taking over from Flynn, after "discussions with Laurie and others from other list parties" over the prior weeks.[23] During the announcement of candidates, it gained its first elected member, councillor Chris McEleny, who previously had served as the SNP group leader on Inverclyde Council[24] and was due to be an SNP candidate for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[25] The MPs Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey, as well as the former MP Corri Wilson, joined the party on 26 March.[26][27] The SNP's national equalities convener, Lynne Anderson, also defected to Alba.[28] BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell said the list of defectors to the party included "those who fear that gender self-identification for trans people poses a threat to women's rights" as well as politicians who personally support Salmond and his approach to Scottish independence.[29]
2021 Scottish Parliament election
The party announced plans to stand at least four candidates for the list vote in every region in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[30] Intended candidates included Salmond standing for the North East Scotland region as well as former SNP members Chris McEleny standing for the West Scotland region, Eva Comrie for the Mid Scotland and Fife region (for which she was previously the SNP candidate),[citation needed] and Cynthia Guthrie for the South Scotland region.[23][31] Caroline McAllister, the SNP's women's convener and deputy leader of West Dunbartonshire council, joined the party and was announced as a candidate in the West Scotland region.[32] The party endorsed voting for the SNP in the constituency vote while voting for the Alba Party for the list vote, to ensure more pro-independence MSPs are elected.[33]
On 26 March 2021, the Leader of Action for Independence, former SNP MSP Dave Thompson, stated that the party would be standing down all their candidates to support Alba.[34][35] Tommy Sheridan who had been seeking election as part of Action for Independence, joined the Alba Party on 28 March.[36] On 29 March, former professional boxer Alex Arthur was announced as a list candidate, whilst former SNP MPs George Kerevan and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and former MSP Jim Eadie joined later that day.[37][38]
The party failed to win any seats in the election,[39] after attracting only 1.7% of the vote.[40] It received 44,000 votes which was enough proportionally to win two or three seats, but its support was spread across multiple regions, with no concentration large enough to produce a seat.[41][42] Salmond said that the party's results were "creditable" given its recent founding.[43] According to Neville Kirk, some observers attributed Alba's poor performance to Salmond being "out of touch with the younger, greener and feminist activists attracted in large numbers to the independence cause", and to his "seemingly unapologetic behaviour towards his female staff complainants".[44] Some commentators also argued that Alba had benefitted Sturgeon individually by removing some of her most vocal internal party critics from the political scene.[45]
A few months after the election, on 28 June 2021, the Electoral Commission rejected all seven of Alba's official descriptions. In a round-up of recent decisions, the Commission said all seven proposed ballot paper slogans failed to "meet the requirements of a description".[46]
Criticism
Sturgeon and the SNP criticised the new party, questioning Salmond's fitness to take public office given the sexual harassment claims against him.[47][48] Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment.[49] Alex Salmond refused to apologise during his titular sexual harassment scandal and was found not guilty of 12 charges, and not proven of one.[50]
Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, also criticised the new party, describing it as "a party thrown together", Neil Mackay called the party "Trumpian" and "a hotchpotch of social conservatives and nationalist fundamentalists".[51] The party was further criticised as "cynical" for potentially using women's rights as a campaign issue despite making misleading statements about one of their candidates' role in Glasgow City Council's equal pay dispute.
In April 2021, Margaret Lynch claimed that the SNP's Scottish Government was funding LGBT rights groups that wanted to lower the age of consent to 10 years old.[52][53] The SNP described this as "untrue" and Lynch was later criticised by Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie. The Scotsman repeated her claim that LGBT organisations which received "£2.8 million of Scottish public funds" have signed a letter advocating lowering the age of consent to 10 years of age.[54] LGBT charity Stonewall called on Lynch to retract the allegation about their organisation and apologise.[55] ILGA World released the statement that the claims are dangerous and irresponsible, that they urge those making or sharing them, to stop".[56] LGBT Youth Scotland described Lynch's claims as "vicious lies" and "an act of prejudice and discrimination that repeats harmful myths".[57] When asked by The Scotsman whether Lynch's position was also that of the party, Alba refused to comment.[58] Former SNP councillor Austin Sheridan left the Alba Party, describing Lynch's comments stating there was "no way I can be part of a party that tolerates such views.[59][60] In an article in The Times, Lynch claimed that trans rights would allow access by "sexual predators".[61] However, Alba as a party had not condemned the claim made by Lynch, members citing the Isla Bryson case during the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill push through where Bryson, a trans woman, was jailed within a women-only prison for sexually assaulting two women before transitioning.[62] Bryson was later relocated to a male-only prison, receiving eight years in jail.[63]
2022 Scottish local elections
For the 2022 Scottish local elections, the Alba Party announced that 111 candidates would be standing in councils across Scotland to win as many as possible. Salmond launched the party's manifesto at the Caird Hall in Dundee with the main aim of electing the first councillors under the Alba banner. Ahead of the election, Salmond said that he was confident that the party would win seats.
The party failed to win any seats at the election, attracting 0.7% of first preference votes.[64] All of the councillors who defected to the party from the SNP failed to be elected, including Christopher McEleny, the party's General Secretary who only received 126 votes. In response to the result, Salmond expressed his disappointment with the outcome and said that it would take time for the party to build enough support to have candidates elected.[65]
Further activities
The week after the elections, Kamran Butt, who although not elected was the most successful Alba candidate, defected to the SNP. He claimed that joining the SNP was the only way that independence and strong governance could be delivered in Scotland.[66] The same day, Salmond stated that all pro-independence parties needed to work together if Scottish independence was to be achieved. He said that the proposed 2023 independence referendum would need to take place, but if it didn't then there would be huge political change in Scotland in which Alba would play a strong part.[67]
In December 2022, polling suggested that Alba could win seats at the next Scottish Parliament election. 34% of voters who backed the SNP in the 2021 Scottish Parliament constituency vote said they would vote for Alba with their regional list ballot to return a greater number of pro-independence MSPs, with 19% support overall.[68]
In August 2023, Alba came under fire, after featuring a poster of then prime minister, Rishi Sunak, as vampire, with the slogan "No wonder he's laughing, he's got Scotland's oil." The same poster had been used against Margaret Thatcher by the SNP in the 1980's in response to the extracting of oil in the North Sea. Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser accused the party of racism, which was denied by Chris McEleny, who said: "In a democratic society, a political message that criticises the government of the day and the way it squanders resources is completely legitimate."[69][70][71][72]
In late August 2023, Alba announced they would not contest the October Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, called after former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was suspended from the House of Commons and recalled from her seat for breaching COVID-19 regulations. They accused the SNP of rebuffing their call for only one pro-independence candidate and said that this would allow the SNP to "fly solo" in the ballot.[73][74] The seat was lost to Labour, who won an outright majority.
On 28 October 2023, former leadership candidate Ash Regan defected to Alba becoming the party's first member of the Scottish parliament and the party leader in the Scottish Parliament.[75] The same month the "Scotland United" technical group was formed in the House of Commons between Alba and independent MP Angus MacNeil.[76]
In 2024, Alba started a campaign in favour of keeping the Grangemouth Refinery open.[77][78]
In March 2024, Eva Comrie, the party's equalities convener who was also a founding member of the party, resigned from Alba, citing comments made by the party's women's convener, Yvonne Ridley, that trans-women are "assigned male at birth" as the reason. As a result, Salmond announced that Ridley was stepping down from the role.[79][80][81]
2024 general election
In November 2023, Salmond confirmed that the Alba Party would field candidates at the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[82] In total, 19 candidates stood, including their sitting MPs: Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey.[83] At a press conference prior to candidate nominations closing, Salmond confirmed that he was not among the Alba candidates to be seeking election, instead telling journalists that it was his intention to contest the Banffshire and Buchan Coast seat at the next Scottish Parliament election.[84][85][86]
The Proclaimers endorsed the party's campaign to save the Grangemouth Oil Refinery in the election.[87]
In the election, Alba received 11,784 votes (0.5%), and were unsuccessful in returning any MPs.[88] Additionally, none of the candidates were successful in retaining their £500 election deposit, having failed to reach the 5% threshold required to do so.[89] Their best result came in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, where Hanvey took 2.8% of the vote.[90][91] MacAskill received 638 votes (1.5%) in Alloa and Grangemouth, coming behind Eva Comrie who ran as an independent.[92][93][94] Alba did not put up candidates in the North East of Scotland.[95] As a result, Salmond admitted that he had voted SNP in his home constituency of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.[96][97]
Death of Alex Salmond and 2025 leadership contest
On 12 October 2024, Salmond died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 69, whilst attending an event in North Macedonia.[98] Under the party's constitution, the deputy leader would become acting leader whenever the role is vacant, holding office until a leadership election could be held. As a result, Kenny MacAskill became the interim leader.[99]
On 9 January 2025, Ash Regan announced that she would be running in the leadership election to succeed Salmond.[100][101][102][103] In addition to the election of a new leader, the party also had a contest for the role of deputy leader, which saw Chris McEleny and Neale Hanvey stand for the position.[104][105] On 26 March 2025, MacAskill was announced as the next leader of Alba, securing 52.3% of the vote to Regan's 47.7%.[106][107] Hanvey won the deputy leadership election.[108]
MacAskill leadership
In April 2025, MacAskill announced that Alba would once again field list-only candidates at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.[109]
Alba chose not to field a candidate for the 2025 Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, which was held due to the death of the SNP's Christina McKelvie. The party said that their decision not to stand was as a mark of respect to McKelvie's work as an MSP, and to the wider independence movement.[110] Additionally, Alba reiterated their intention to run on the regional lists in 2026.[111]
Ash Regan withdrew from the party in October 2025 to sit as an independent MSP, leaving the party with no representation in the Parliament.[112] Later that month Hugh Kerr and Craig Murray left Alba to join Your Party.[113][114] Kerr argued that Alba "was in its death throes” and "likely to die", while Murray argued that "the need for a real left-wing party is urgent". In response, MacAskill stated that he respects their decision to switch parties; he also stated that the Alba Party intends to treat the 2026 Scottish Parliament election as a "de facto referendum" on Scottish independence and campaign on economic issues.[115]
On 28 November, the party launched a petition to halt onshore wind farm development in Scotland. The petition argues that expansion of onshore wind farms is unneccessary and unwanted by local communities, and that the wind farms "damage our landscape, don’t bring energy prices down, and in many cases are simply used to make a quick buck by corporate fat cats".[116]
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Ideology and policies
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The Alba Party supports Scottish nationalism, advocating Scottish independence as an "immediate necessity".[117] It describes its objective as being to build a "socially just and environmentally responsible" Scotland.[118] The party proposes that, now that the reign of Queen Elizabeth II has ended, Scotland should become a republic with "an elected head of state with similar powers to the Uachtarán na hÉireann (the President of Ireland)", with the final document of a written constitution for this purpose to be confirmed by a referendum.[9][10] Its platform also opposed proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act until a citizens' assembly can be formed to discuss and debate the perceived conflicts between sex- and gender-based rights.[119] Alex Salmond described holding a gender-critical belief as a "cardinal aspect of ALBA policy".[120] In March 2022, Salmond unveiled a 38-page "Wee Alba Book" which makes the "fundamental case for independence", covering issues such as Europe, currency and borders.[121][122]
The party officially describes itself as left-of-centre,[123] and claims to be more left-wing than the Scottish National Party.[124] Regarding the party's ideology, Salmond stated: "I had an idea a while back when leading another political party. I thought that if the SNP could present as a coherent left of centre political party it could replace the Labour Party as the dominant force in Scottish politics. As it was for the SNP and Labour so is it now for Alba and the SNP."[125] The party has politicians with a variety of positions as members, such as Tommy Sheridan and George Kerevan on the left-wing,[126][127] as well as Kenny MacAskill, who is described as left-wing,[128] and a social democrat.[129] Ash Regan, the long-standing MP of the party, was considered centre-right, but she left the party in October 2025.[112] Salmond himself was described as left-wing.[130] After Salmond's death in 2024, George Kerevan wrote: "Making MacAskill leader would cement Alba's position on the centre-left." He described MacAskill as "passionate about independence and socialism".[131]
Some political commentators, such as Gerry Hassan, expressed skepticism of the party's claim to be "more left-wing and working class" than the SNP. Hassan noted that "it is not that difficult to find a position to the left of the current centrist SNP" and claimed that the Alba Party's allegiance to the left is superficial, predicting that the party would "in a populist manner attempt to position itself to the left of the SNP on the Growth Commission's economics, the currency question, public spending, and Trident."[132] The Guardian's Scotland editor, Severin Carrell, labelled the party as centre-right in an article in 2024.[14] Europe Elects has classified the party as centre-left.[133] Nathalie Duclos of the University of Toulouse wrote that Alba is positioned on "the left or centre-left on the left-right axis".[134] It has also been described as the leftmost Scottish party along with the Greens,[135] left of the SNP,[136] and left-leaning.[137] ZNetwork described the party as "anti-NATO and anti-monarchy, among other left-wing markers."[138]
Economic policy
Economically, the party describes itself as social democratic,[139] and has also been described as such by some observers, such as the Polish journalist Konrad Rękas.[140] Two SNP Aberdeenshire councillors who defected to Alba in 2021, argued that they had done so to because they "are committed to a social-democratic independent Scotland".[141] The Common Weal Group, a SNP faction which promoted "genuine radical, anti-market policies", also defected to Alba, arguing that the party is building "a left-wing, progressive wing of the independence movement".[142] Alba called for "a far bolder and more progressive tax system", "a social security system based on fairness", and an end to "the Westminster system of punishing those most in need in our society".[134] Alba also proposed a state house-building company that would build houses above the existing targets, and a Scottish state energy corporation that would produce energy using wave power and tidal power.[143] It postulates that Scotland abandons pound sterling and the monetary union with the United Kingdom, in favor of its own independent currency. The party argues that Scotland "must have control over the money in its economy and how it’s managed". [144]
In an interview with El País, Salmond stated that Alba is more radical than SNP in terms of the economic program, proposing more left-wing policies: "It's true that we're also more radical [than SNP] in social and economic policy. Their proposals are good, but they're not enough. For example, the amount they want to allocate to each child to combat child poverty is ridiculous. We're proposing four times as much."[145] According to Gregor Gall, a factor in the creation of Alba was the rightward shift of SNP's leadership towards accomodation with neoliberalism, which led to defection of left-wing SNP factions to Alba.[146] According to Scottish Left Review, "most of the left in the SNP" had defected to Alba,[147] and the party is composed of "old SNP party cadres and avowed leftists."[148] In 2023, a pressure group within Alba named Radical Alba Campaign was created, seeking "to push the party to the left on its economic policy", arguing that Alba "made significant strides, but there is always room for improvement." Its proposals included a "people's bank" as well as a "citizen's chamber" within the Scottish Parliament.[149]
Social policy
Tichys Einblick described the party as opposed to "SNP's woke side proposals",[150] while Fraser Macmillan wrote that it offers an alternative to voters who oppose "SNP's social liberalism".[151] Emilio Casalicchio writing for Politico in 2023 called the party socially conservative,[152] while Nathalie Duclos of the University of Toulouse argued that Alba's stance on gender identity "stems not from a conservative stance on equality issues but from a belief that gender self-identification threatens women’s ‘right to maintain their sex based protections’".[153] According to Fraser McMillan, Alba's voters in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election were found to be slightly to the left of the SNP supporters and did not meet "the profile of the socially conservative "alt-nat" caricature."[154]
Alba is officially opposed to further gender reforms proposed by the SNP,[155] and spoke against liberalisation of gender recognition laws.[156] Alex Salmond criticised the 2023 Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill as the "worst legislation in the history of devolution",[157] He also argued that the gender legislation is meant to distract from socioeconomic issues, stating: "Clearly, that's the most important issue on your mind, with your coat on, at home, shivering on a Saturday afternoon in Bucksburn. Let's get back to the issues that matter to people!"[158] Ash Regan cited this as a reason for joining Alba and called for an end to further legal action against the section 35 ruling by the UK Government.[159] Alba argues that the gender recognition laws proposed by the SNP administrations violate the 2010 Equality Act, as they would "allow any man to simply declare he is a woman" and "give males access to female spaces and services"; instead, Alba argues that women must have a right to single-sex spaces and sports.[160] Alba's Deputy Leader Neale Hanvey, who identifies as LGBTQ, called the transgender legislation "homophobia", claiming that "if we remove sex, there can be no homosexual."[161] The party also supports republicanism, being critical of the British monarchy and arguing that Scotland must "move to an elected head of state".[162]
International policy
Alba supports a future independent Scotland joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA),[163] arguing that it would mitigate the negative effects of Brexit while avoiding the "obligations and restrictions" of becoming an EU member. The party does not want Scotland to rejoin the European Union, although it is open to holding a referendum on the issue. It staunchly opposes NATO membership, and demands the removal of British nuclear arsenal and the nuclear submarine base HMNB Clyde at Faslane from Scotland.[164][165] In reaction to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the party condemned "the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty" while also calling for "Russia’s own security interests" to be considered, stating that the West had broken its 1990s assurance to not expand eastwards and that the conflict can only be resolved through negotiation and dialogue with Russia.[166] In reaction to the Gaza war, the party expressed "solidarity with the Palestinian people" and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.[167]
In regards to Scottish independence, Kezia Dugdale described the party as "fundamental nationalists" who "want an independence referendum yesterday, definitely today, and not in two years", while also noting that the party's opposition to "more socially liberal policies" of the SNP is the key difference between Alba and the SNP.[168] Similarly, The Political Quarterly argues that the SNP and Alba correspond to the gradualist-fundamentalist split amongst Scottish nationalists, with the SNP representing gradualist nationalism and the Alba Party attempting to form a radically separatist, fundamentalist force.[169] Alba was described as "more populist" than SNP, and in 2021, 70% of its supporters wanted a Scottish independence referendum within 12 months, as opposed to 48% of SNP's supporters.[170]
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Leadership
Leader of the Alba Party
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Deputy Leader of the Alba Party
Director of Operations of the Alba Party
Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament
Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons
Representatives
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Perspective
The party has not had any candidates directly elected. Their representatives, listed below, all defected having been elected as SNP candidates.[172]
MPs
MSPs
Councillors
Following Salmond's announcement, eleven councillors had joined the party by the end of March 2021. All eleven had been elected as SNP candidates, though three had already left that party.[175] This included three councillors on Aberdeenshire Council[176] and two on North Lanarkshire Council.[177]
Alba nominated 111 candidates for the 2022 Scottish local elections, including the 13 incumbent councillors who were elected as members of other parties before joining Alba. None were elected.[178]
In October 2023, Chris Cullen, a councillor in South Ayrshire Council defected from the SNP to Alba.[179]
In March 2024, Karl Rosie became the party's second councillor when he also defected to Alba.[180] He had been elected in Thurso and North West Caithness on The Highland Council and had left the SNP the previous month to sit as an independent.[180][181] In December 2025 he resigned from Alba and became a member of the Highland Independents group.[182]
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Electoral performance
House of Commons
Scottish Parliament
Local elections
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Notes
References
External links
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