Alba leader Kenny MacAskill has insisted that Alex Salmond’s pro-independence party is “harmonious and collegiate” amidst allegations of factionism.
Mr MacAskill reflected on his first several months as leader of Alba in an exclusive interview with The Herald.
The former Justice Secretary said: “It's been a testing occasion for us all. Alex’s death was tragic back in October, and now we have had to stabilise the ship.
“It was obviously not simply a loss in terms of the political leadership and the inspiration he gave, but he was a personal friend.”
Asked about criticism of his leadership from former party boss Chris McEleny, who was booted from Alba for ‘gross misconduct’ in May, Mr MacAskill said: “I can't stop anybody saying anything. What I can say is he was dismissed for gross misconduct. Any action will be strenuously defended.
“Investigations by authorities are continuing, and in the interim, we have had a conference, we have had a National Council, we have had regular executive meetings and the party is working away.
“There's a remarkable collegiate and harmonious relationship within the party. So you know, people from outside can throw stones inside. We're getting on with it.”
The status of Ash Regan, Alba’s only MSP, was also queried amidst suggestions her relationship with Mr MacAskill is strained.
During the party’s leadership contest in March, Ms Regan told The Herald she had believed Mr MacAskill was going to retire and questioned his relevance, noting: “It’s hard to be relevant from outside the parliament. It’s even hard to be one MP, for instance, as they are not working in Scotland.”
However, Mr MacAskill has dismissed claims of factionalism as "outside chat".
He said: “Ash and I don't have the same relationship that Alex and I had. But we fully respect the work that she's doing in Holyrood. We give full support to that and that's where things stand.
“Of course, I go a long way back with Alex. We came from the same small town. We went to school together. So that can't be replicated.
“Even within the SNP, my friendships were limited. I've always had a scenario where a lot of my friends are not involved in frontline politics. Those who normally are my best friends are in music, films and photography. They're my mates. The people I work with in politics are my work colleagues.”
“I think for a lot of people, remaining the legacy of being Alex Salmond's party is actually a positive. But there's a younger generation coming through who, for whom it will be Alex-who?
"We have to explain the how of independence and we have to explain the why,” Mr MacAskill said, his voice quickening with passion.
“The how, we argue, is the plebiscite election because you know that's what the Supreme Court left open. But the why has to be explained. I speak to young people and most of them either campaigned or voted yes in 2014. But they see independence as something that's esoteric.
“Independence for many young people is like, ‘Do you want Scotland to win the World Cup? Absolutely. You know, is it going to happen? No.’ But it's not happening. What we have to do is to explain why.
"And that's where energy comes in. Because we are energy rich and yet we're fuel poor. We should be seeing every estuary in Scotland building offshore turbines. We should be seeing onshore cheap energy businesses.”
He noted: “I was the MP for East Lothian. There are no jobs related to renewable energy and yet we can see the turbines in the Forth. We've got battery storage coming in and there's no work.
“I think what we realise now is if we don't have independence, we're not going to sort out our economy because of what we've seen first under the Tories and now under Ed Miliband. The closure of Grangemouth, the failure to act on Alexander Dennis Limited, the failure to benefit from the Scott Wind project.
“You know, we are a resource being used. They're going to use Scotland for the production of cheap renewable energy.
“Our environment is going to be trashed. We're getting no revenue for it and we're getting no jobs.”
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As our conversation concludes, Mr MacAskill takes a moment to consider the future. At 67, he has been involved in politics for five decades.
He notes: “I'm conscious that I've been in politics for a long, long time. Part of my duty is to bring forward others and that's why we make sure that other people have a high profile within the party.”
“We have an elected representative in Holyrood. We have other younger people coming through, and we have to push them forward.
“So I recognise my job is to lead the party into 2026, but at the same time, to develop the party, to ensure that, as I say, the generation of Alec and I is followed by the younger generation.”
His closing pitch is, perhaps predictably, about Scotland’s energy.
“There is something fundamentally wrong,” he says. “We can see turbines on the hills and off our shores but we can't turn our heating on. There's something wrong there.
"Our job is to get that message across because, simply saying ‘vote for independence’, people will say ‘why’?
“Well, we don't want to go into World War Three and we want to make sure that the renewable bounty we produce, we benefit from.”
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