FORMER SNP cabinet minister Alex Neil has backed Alex Salmond's call for a “Scotland United For Independence” pact between his party, Alba and the Greens at the next general election.
The proposal floated by the former first minister would see pro-independence parties stand just one candidate stands in each seat to avoid splitting the votes of Yes backers.
Mr Neil is, so far, the only senior figure in the SNP to show any sympathy for the plan.
Pete Wishart, the party’s longest-serving MP described it as a “ridiculous proposal designed to get an unelected party MPs on the back of SNP votes.”
READ MORE: Margaret Ferrier: Scotland's first recall petition to open on June 20
The row came as a new poll suggested the SNP were on course to win just 26 seats at the general election, down from the 48 won in 2019.
Labour would win 31, up from the one won at that last vote.
The MRP poll of more than 10,000 voters across the UK for Best For Britain found "a marked increase in undecided voters in Scotland."
They said this was "likely to be a result of those who previously intended to vote for the SNP now being ‘undecided’."
However, while the SNP share of the vote fell 8 percentage points from the group's poll earlier in the year, from 38 per cent to 30%, Labour’s share has not increased, staying at 28%.
Instead, the sheer number of Don't Knows means "that in many cases, Labour’s lead in Scotland exists by default, rather than because they’ve directly won a large number of votes from the SNP."
READ MORE: Edinburgh's tram extension success 'shows toxic legacy is history'
Earlier this week, Mr Salmond wrote to the SNP’s 45-strong parliamentary group outlining the proposal, passed by Alba's members at their recent party conference.
The SNP MPs and Alba’s two MPs would automatically be the one candidate in their constituencies, but the remaining seats would be divided among the parties within the agreement.
In his letter, Mr Salmond claimed the plans could shift the focus away from turmoil within the SNP.
He wrote: “We are in an unprecedented moment in Scottish politics. For the first time support for the concept of Scottish independence is appreciably higher than support for the SNP as the main independence party. Most of you will have campaigned through the many, many years in which it was exactly the opposite.
“At a stroke, the entire dynamic of the election will change. The focus will no longer be on how many SNP seats will be lost to Labour, but how many of the ten remaining unionist seats will be lost to the Scotland United coalition.
“Election debate will be centred on independence and how to get it and not on the record or current internal difficulties of Scotland’s major party.”
READ MORE: Yousaf urged to intervene in CalMac ferry crisis as minister quits
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Mr Neil said it was a suggestion worthy of consideration.
“The SNP should participate in a Scotland United for Independence campaign next year,” he tweeted. “We have nothing to lose but a lot to gain. We owe it to every Scottish independence supporter to do everything we can to beat the unionists. This is easily the best way to do so.”
The SNP should participate in a Scotland United for Independence campaign next year. We have nothing to lose but a lot to gain. We owe it to every Scottish independence supporter to do everything we can to beat the unionists. This is easily the best way to do so.
— Alex Neil (@AlexNeilSNP) June 7, 2023
Mr Wishart disagreed. “It's a ridiculous proposal designed to get an unelected party MPs on the back of SNP votes,” he wrote.
“We'd be severely punished by the Scottish electorate if we partnered a toxic party on 2 per cent of the vote that has never won an elected representative in any election.”
He later said the proposal “would kill any chance of independence.”
“Alba in their current state are totally toxic and would put people off if they were in any way associated with the mainstream movement,” he added.
Commenting on the MRP poll, Scottish Labour's deputy leader, Jackie Baillie said: “The polls show that the political tide is turning in Scotland and people are looking to Scottish Labour to deliver on their priorities.
“The SNP and the Tories are busted flushes.
“Only Labour can kick the Tories out of Downing Street, end the politics of division and deliver the change we need.
“Scottish Labour will continue to fight for every vote so we can deliver a stronger Scotland in a reformed United Kingdom.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel