Salmond writes to SNP MPs to urge election alliance

Former first minister Alex Salmond has written to SNP MPs to urge them to join an election alliance with the Alba Party.

The plan, passed by Alba’s conference last month, would see the 47 pro-independence MPs fight their seats again at the next general election without challenge, with the remaining 10 seats to be divided among the parties within the agreement, where the SNP would be guaranteed “the lion’s share”.

The agreement would provide a boost to the two current Alba MPs, Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill, who would be the only pro-independence candidates in their constituencies.

But within hours the gesture looked to have failed, with a senior SNP MP describing the plan as “ridiculous”.

In his letter, Mr Salmond said the proposals are “imperfectly understood” by SNP politicians, and he claimed the plans can shift the focus away from the turmoil within the SNP.

He wrote: “We are in an unprecedented moment in Scottish politics.

“For the first time support for the concept of Scottish independence is appreciably higher than support for the SNP as the main independence party.

“Most of you will have campaigned through the many, many years in which it was exactly the opposite.

“Of course this could change over the next few months, in which case nothing is lost.

“But if it doesn’t change, then there is much to gain from this proposal for independence and for Scotland.

“At a stroke, the entire dynamic of the election will change. The focus will no longer be on how many SNP seats will be lost to Labour, but how many of the 10 remaining unionist seats will be lost to the Scotland United coalition.

“Election debate will be centred on independence and how to get it, and not on the record or current internal difficulties of Scotland’s major party.”

The plan “carries overwhelming support” from pro-independence groups, Mr Salmond said, while there is also “currently research in the field to establish whether that view has public validation”, which he offered to share.

Pete Wishart, the SNP’s longest serving MP, derided the plan on Twitter, saying: “It’s a ridiculous proposal designed to get an unelected party MPs on the back of SNP votes.

“We’d be severely punished by the Scottish electorate if we partnered a toxic party on 2% of the vote that has never won an elected representative in any election.”