Alex Salmond confirmed he would be backing a new Nicola Sturgeon-led Government despite the acrimony that erupted between the former Scottish First Minister and his predecessor. Mr Salmond announced his Alba Party would join the electoral fight ahead of the Scottish vote scheduled for May in a bid to strengthen the calls for a new independence referendum. The Scottish politician insisted his new party has the chance of strengthening the independence cause in areas where the SNP would leave a void.
Asked about propping up a new SNP Government with votes from the Alba Party, Mr Salmond said: “Given that we support independence for Scotland, it’s highly likely we will support the candidate who wins the most seats on that platform.
“That’s what Alba is designed to do, to further the cause of independence for Scotland. Remember, these are two different things.
“I became First Minister of Scotland with 49 votes out of 129 in the Scottish Parliament but it looks the SNP will swipe the board on the constituency section of the Scottish Parliament.”
The former First Minister claimed that because of the current electoral system, the SNP would be able to secure a good majority in Holyrood but fail on the regional side.
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He continued: “It also looks certain, or very likely, that despite getting a million votes potentially on the regional section, they won’t get a single seat.
“That is the opportunity, that’s potentially a million wasted independence votes.
“The projection was they would not get a single regional list seat because they were getting 67 seats on the constituency section.
“That’s how the proportional system works in the Scottish Parliament and it gives Alba an opportunity to fill that void in the independence cause.”
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The Scottish Conservative leader said that showed nationalists were looking to “game the system to ensure our Parliament and the focus of the next five years is all on independence, rather than on our recovery”.
Mr Ross said that “if the numbers allow”, unionist parties could look to “form a pro-UK anti referendum coalition, so we can get the focus of Scottish politics back on to the issues that matter to the people – which is not a damaging, divisive, destructive referendum campaign”.
Mr Ross also refused to rule out the prospect of the pro-UK parties agreeing to only run one candidate in constituency seats, uniting around whoever would have the best chance of defeating the SNP.
“Nothing is off the table,” the Conservative MP insisted.
