Alex Salmond hits out at Supreme Court case in Alba Party speech
Alex Salmond has attacked Nicola Sturgeon’s Supreme Court case on independence in his speech to the Alba Party conference, accusing the First Minister of going to the “wrong court with the wrong argument”.
The Alba Party leader said pro-independence parties should run together on a “Scotland United” ticket if the next general election is to be treated as a “plebiscite” on independence.
Alba’s second annual conference took place in Stirling over the weekend, with party members passing a number of motions.
During his speech at the close of the conference on Sunday, Mr Salmond said the only “only strong leadership voices for peace and negotiation” in Europe had been Pope Francis and President Recep Erdogan of Turkey.
The former first minister criticised the SNP’s approach to securing Scottish independence, saying there had been no progress since the referendum of 2014.
Earlier in the week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Scottish Government’s reference of its proposed Bill on an independence referendum, with judges asked to rule on whether it related to a reserved matter or not.
Discussing the history of the pro-independence movement, Mr Salmond said: “All of these historic gains have been frittered away over the last eight years until the denouement at Middlesex Guildhall (location of the Supreme Court), two minutes’ walk from the Palace of Westminster.”
He continued: “If against all expectations the Scottish case was to prevail, what exactly would be won?
“The right to conduct a poll, which according to the Lord Advocate’s submissions, rested on the argument it would have no practical effect.”
A decision against the Scottish Government could prevent future first ministers from introducing independence referendum Bills at Holyrood, he said.
If any Alba MSPs had been elected, they already would have introduced such a Bill in the Scottish parliament, he said.
The former first minister said: “In short, the First Minister went to the wrong court, with the wrong argument at the wrong time.
“And Scotland’s rights as a nation could be the loser.”
He also said Alba had commissioned a legal opinion from a leading lawyer on Scotland’s right to self-determination, one which could be presented to any “domestic or international” court.
The Alba Party leader said Liz Truss’ Government looked “simply ridiculous” and said “the British ruling class will be safe with Labour”.
If the Supreme Court rules against the Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon has said she could treat the next general election as a “de facto referendum”.
Mr Salmond said: “If you are seeking an independence mandate at an election, then fight it as Scotland United to maximise Scotland’s chances of success.”