The SNP’s “incompetence” in government has “hindered” the cause of Scottish independence, former party leader and ex- Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has claimed.
Mr Salmond also said there is no way “immediately” for another independence referendum to be held, as he criticised his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, for her “ill-fated, kamikaze” Supreme Court case on the issue.
During Ms Sturgeon’s time as first minister, the Scottish Government went to the Supreme Court to see if it could hold another ballot on the future of the union without Westminster’s consent.
In November 2022 judges there unanimously ruled that the Scottish Parliament “does not have the power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence”.
Alex Salmond criticised Nicola Sturgeon for the ‘kamikaze’ legal case at the UK Supreme Court (Image: (Andrew Milligan/PA))
Mr Salmond said that Ms Sturgeon’s “ill-starred, ill-fated, kamikaze venture to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom” had been “just ludicrous from start to finish”.
Asked if he saw a way a second vote on independence could be held, he said: “No, not immediately.”
He said the Scottish Government’s performance in recent years had “hindered independence”.
Asked if devolution had helped or hindered the cause he has championed throughout his political career, Mr Salmond said: “It helped independence when the SNP were a competent government.
“Obviously it has hindered independence when the SNP became an incompetent government in more recent years.”
READ MORE: Three pegs on which Swinney should hang his First Minister's hat
READ MORE: SNP's Kate Forbes elevation eases Scottish business frown
He left the SNP and in the run up to the 2021 Holyrood elections launched the rival pro-independence Alba Party.
He said there were a “litany of demonstrations of incompetence” by his successors in government, citing delays to the construction of two new ferries to service lifeline routes to the islands of Scotland’s west coast as one example.
Mr Salmond said his former party had been “diverted into the highways and byways of identity politics” instead of “worrying about health, education, housing, transport, finishing the A9 and so on”.
The 2014 vote on independence took place after the SNP, under Mr Salmond’s leadership, won an unprecedented majority in the 2011 Holyrood elections.
The victory led to then UK prime minister David Cameron conceding a referendum could be held, with Mr Salmond saying that during the election campaign he had thought his party was “getting close” to winning an overall majority.
He recalled touring Scotland in the final days of the campaign, saying there were “lots of activists, lots of waves”.
Mr Salmond said: “I thought at that point, if this lasted another week we could have an overall majority.
“I didn’t realise we were at that level. But I knew we were getting close to it.”
Mr Salmond attributed part of the success of that election to the SNP’s second-vote strategy, in which the party told Scots their second vote, on the regional ballot, should go to them to elect him as first minister.
He added it had been a campaign where “everything went right”.
Mr Salmond said: “Some campaigns everything goes wrong, it’s happened to the SNP in the past, but that was a campaign where everything went right.”
Speaking as Holyrood approaches the 25th anniversary of its first sitting on May 12, Mr Salmond said people across Scotland “liked to be able to see that the Parliament had achieved things that matter, that are meaningful to the people” such as free university education.
No longer an elected parliamentarian, he said that the Scottish Parliament was “at its best and thought of the best the more ambitious it was for the country”.
Meanwhile he urged those still at Holyrood: “Keep your eye on the people’s priorities, not the indulgences of politicians.”
The SNP has been contacted for comment.
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