Ash Regan explicitly denied planning to join Alba during the SNP leadership contest, the Herald can reveal.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP said she was “not at all” interested in defecting when she was running to become First Minister earlier this year.
“If I’d wanted to go and leave and go to Alba I would have done it by now, wouldn’t I?” she said.
Ms Regan, who was elected for the SNP in 2016, today quit the party and announced she was becoming Alba's first MSP and its leader in Holyrood.
In a recorded interview with The Herald on March 10 about her bid for the SNP leadership, Ms Regan was asked about the possibility of her joining Alba.
READ MORE: Former SNP leadership contender Ash Regan defects to Alba party
The Herald put it to her: “There could be a place in history for you as the first Alba MSP if it doesn’t pan out.”
Ms Regan laughed at the suggestion, then said: “I’m in the SNP.”
When it was put to her that was “present tense” not future, she said: “ Well I am in the SNP.
“If I’d wanted to go and leave and go to Alba I would have done it by now, wouldn’t I?”
The Herald then put it to her that she could still be the first MSP for Alba and asked: “Does that interest you at all?”
She replied: “Not at all, no.
"I am this to win it. I want to be leader of the SNP.
“But I do want to work with the wider movement. I’ve been quite upfront about that.”
Ms Regan, 49, is the second parliamentarian to defect from the SNP this month.
East Kilbride MP Dr Lisa Cameron crossed the floor at Westminster to join the Tories on October 12, complaining of a "toxic" culture and bullying within the SNP group.
Alba was formed by former SNP leader and first minister Alex Salmond in spring 2021.
It has since attacked the SNP for failing to advance the cause of independence.
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