Alba’s deputy leader and former Holyrood justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has taken on the leadership on an acting basis, until the party can choose new office bearers at a rearranged party conference in March. A leadership contest could also be held in March, with a ballot of party members should that prove necessary.
Chris McEleny will step down as Alba leader (Image: Supplied)
However, suspicions have already been aired in some quarters that the leadership contest will be a stitch-up in favour of the party’s sole MSP Ash Regan with Chris McEleny as her unofficial running mate. Kenny MacAskill, the other likely leadership successor, has published some Tweets in recent weeks which are not-so-veiled attacks on the Regan/McEleny faction, seemingly accusing them of chasing the Reform UK vote and of seeking to cosy up to Elon Musk.
READ MORE: Who is Ash Regan? The Alba MSP with Humza Yousaf’s fate in her hands
Ash Regan has made some moves of late which have raised eyebrows such as writing to Elon Musk, asking him to establish an electric vehicle battery factory in Scotland, a plea Musk rebuffed. Her judgement was previously questioned when she voted with Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems to bring down Humza Yousaf. Her recent attempt to invite Musk into Scotland has left many independence supporters shaking their heads in disbelief.
Boost in Scotland’s renewable energy sector
While everyone would like to see a boost to Scotland’s vital renewable energy sector, it is highly questionable whether the best way to do it is by getting into bed with a capricious billionaire who supports and bankrolls the far right. The whole reason most independence supporters seek Scottish independence is to build a better, fairer, and more just Scotland, getting into bed with a man who espouses the racist great replacement conspiracy theory, and who has a post in Trump’s administration implementing austerity on steroids is anathema to most Scots and the antithesis of what the independence movement stands for.
Alba is now entering its fourth year of existence as a party and as yet has failed to win any election. All the party’s elected politicians have been defectors who were elected on an SNP ticket.
Its two former MPs, Kenny MacAskill and Neal Hanvey, both lost their deposits when they stood for re-election during last summer’s Westminster general election.
If Alba wishes to establish itself as a credible pro-independence party which is more than simply a vehicle for pursuing Alex Salmond’s grievances with the SNP, it is crucial that it demonstrates that it is actually capable of getting some of its candidates elected. Otherwise, it will be unable to shake off the accusation that it is a would-be populist party which isn’t very popular.
READ MORE: Alba membership increases following death of Alex Salmond
This leadership contest is a battle for the soul of Alba. The party must decide whether to position itself as a party which is firmly on the left economically, as MacAskill would like, or does it attempt to form itself into a party which takes ideas from both left and right, the classic definition of populism.
However, there are signs of hope for Alba’s supporters. Party membership received a significant boost following the death of Alex Salmond and recent opinion polls appear to suggest that the party is enjoying a level of support which would allow it to return a handful of MSPs to Holyrood in its own right.
However, we have seen this before in opinion polling, yet the party failed to make a breakthrough. The proof of the pudding is in the voting, so to speak. The 2026 Holyrood elections will be Alba’s last chance to prove that is a credible pro-independence party and not a failed political experiment.
Scotland’s other pro-independence party which is not the SNP, the Scottish Greens, has also been in the news this new year. The Scottish Greens have a proven track record of electoral success and have returned MSPs to Holyrood in every Scottish election since the establishment of devolution.
Recent opinion polls strongly suggest that even if Alba does succeed in making a breakthrough at the next Scottish elections, it will still be a long way behind the Greens in terms of political representation.
Green co-leader Lorna Slater has said that her party would find it “difficult” to cooperate with the Labour party given the policy differences that the Greens have with Labour on a range of issues.
Lorna Slater talked to The Herald (Image: PA)
Speaking to The Herald newspaper, she said: said: “It is very difficult to imagine working with a Labour Party that is still in favour of nuclear weapons, the House of Lords, the way they have treated the Waspi women, the Winter Fuel Payments.”
She added: “The co-operation agreement [with the SNP] was based on a shared vision and at this point I don’t see much shared vision and values between Labour and the Scottish Greens.”
She did however hint that her party might be open to a new cooperation agreement with the SNP following the 2026 election, saying: “2026 is a long way off and we’ve already seen some dramatic shifts in election outcomes this year, so it’s much too soon to say what the electorate outcome might be.
“The Scottish Greens would always seek to have as much influence to deliver policies like we have delivered free bus travel for under 22s, getting bills through like the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act.
“We are here to get things done. We want to be as effective as possible. The parliamentary arithmetic in 2026 is certainly going to be interesting to see.” She added that any cooperation agreement would have to be approved by the party membership.
Her comments come as parties are still in talks with the SNP over Budget negotiations continuing ahead of a vote in Holyrood in February. She told The Herald: “We are negotiating in good faith. We had some key things we were looking for – no cuts to council funding, no freeze or cap to council tax, an increase to climate and nature spending.
“The First Minister does appear to have made an attempt to put these things into the budget. Cosla has said there is a real terms increase [to council funding] that is good to hear, the First Minister claims there is £4.9 billion that is more than the £4.7bn we saw last year.
“That’s the part we need to unpack. On the surface of it there seems to be cuts to active travel, nature restoration, for heating and insulating homes, so it’s not clear how these cuts add up to an increase. That’s what we still need to look at.
“We are still negotiating in good faith and are open minded. We would love to see more green things in the budget and those discussions are ongoing.”