ALEX Salmond has suggested that the campaign for Scottish independence should be detached from the Scottish Government as people do not think it is "competent".

Speaking at an independence campaign event in Dunfermline, Mr Salmond also said that he did not believe Boris Johnson would grant the Scottish Government a Section 30 order to trigger a referendum, and it was foolish to suggest the mechanism was the 'gold standard'.

The former First Minister was attending the IndyX event in Fife, alongside Common Weal founder Robin McAlpine, SNP MP Douglas Chapman and other independence campaigners. 

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The Alba leader explained: “Perhaps it's because we're no longer in the first flush of administration, but we're no longer in a position where most people - fair mindedly - would say that every action of the Scottish Government is reflecting competence.

“We have to avoid the independence case being totally associated now with the Scottish Government, because a lot of people are going to get very annoyed about a whole variety of things, whether it be ferries or many other things.

“It's really important that the cause of independence doesn't get totally assimilated into the daily weekly woes of government.”

Mr Salmond told attendees he was no longer a “professional politician”, despite being leader of a political party, and added that there had to be a “political will” for independence as it was “inherently unlikely” that Boris Johnson would grant the ability for one even if a motion for it was passed at Holyrood.

He added: “Committing yourself to a section 30 referendum as a gold standard with nothing behind it, it's ridiculous. All a section 30 referendum is, is an agreed legitimacy of a democratic test.”

He said the path to independence had to involve "peaceful but direct action, civil demonstration, and preparing a legal case”.