ITS FAR FROM OVER.

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorized

ALBA “HERE TO STAY” SAYS SALMOND 
PRO-INDEPENDENCE VOTE NOW ABOVE 50% – THANKS TO ALBA
SNP HAVE MANDATE AND DUTY TO ACT ON INDEPENDENCE
ALBA Party Leader and Former First Minister Alex Salmond has today (Saturday) said that ALBA is here to stay and has called on the SNP to use their renewed mandate to act on Independence.
 Alex Salmond said:
“ALBA is here to stay.  In only six weeks ALBA has established itself as a political force with which to be reckoned. With over 5,000 members and more than 40,000 votes ALBA is now on the political scene and we intend to stay there.  With two MPs at Westminster and councillors, the length and breadth of the country, we will continue to make our voice heard loud and clear in the coming months.
“I am proud of our 32 candidates and the campaign that we fought putting Independence front and centre and injecting urgency into the need to deliver Independence.  
I congratulate Nicola on her victory but, of course, with victory comes responsibility. The incoming SNP Government must now deliver on their promise to take Scotland towards Independence.  And there is no excuse for them not to do so.
“Over 50% of voters on the Regional List voted for Independence.  Indeed ALBA votes have helped take that support for Independence to over 50% in this election and that is something that every person who voted for us can be proud of.
“ALBA votes have also helped to elect SNP MSPs making an important contribution to the Independence majority in the Scottish Parliament.  In Banffshire and Buchan Coast the ALBA intervention saved the SNP’s bacon and in Ayr the size of the ALBA list vote was  ahead of the SNP majority in the constituency.
“A key argument advanced by ALBA in this Election has been totally and comprehensively vindicated.  ALBA warned that SNP votes would be wasted on the list and elect zero SNP MSPs in almost every region and that is exactly what has happened.  Yet again up to a million SNP votes wasted.
“In contrast in the constituencies Unionist parties have been successful in persuading voters to vote tactically to stop the SNP in seats the SNP should have won such as Dumbarton and Eastwood. Yet while the Unionists voted smart the SNP persisted with the mantra of ‘Both Votes SNP’ knowing that it would fail to elect SNP MSPs, but worse than that, that it would allow Tory and Labour MSPs in by the back door. The SNP sent their troops over the top to waste their votes and it is Scotland and the wider Independence movement that is the loser.  
“An Independence Supermajority would have strengthened Scotland against Westminster making it much more difficult for Boris Johnson to reject a huge Independence majority of a whole parliament representing a whole nation. 
“ALBA looks to the future with optimism.  We have  established our distinctive place in Scottish politics offering action and urgency on Independence, clear and well thought out positions on the ‘difficult’ questions on Europe, currency and debt and shared assets reflecting the changed realities of 2021 compared to 2014 and proposing radical solutions to tackle poverty, to bring about economic and social reconstruction after Covid and in defence of women’s rights.
“After consultation with candidates this afternoon we will table a motion to the inaugural ALBA Conference in June to contest the local elections in Scotland next year. That will be a contest decided not by television programmes from which ALBA are largely excluded, but in the communities around Scotland and ALBA will fight on level terms.
In that contest ALBA will continue to rise”
ENDS  

63 thoughts on “ITS FAR FROM OVER.”

  1. Like the comments about ALBA saving the bacon of the SNP in Banff and Buchan Coast. The Tory who almost pipped Karen Adam to the post would have been horrendous, possibly even worse than the sitting Tory MP.
    Oh and just to let people see the calibre of some SNP MPs. This person should be ashamed of his petty, puerile comments on Twitter.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I wouldn’t expect anything else but a kick from the braying donkey that is Stewart MacDonald.

      But even he is obviously learning to hone his skills from his Tory colleagues in Westminster.

      Liked by 10 people

    2. He has perfectly illustrated Alec’s comment about the `gracelessness` of some senior members of the SNP. To others, he illustrates something altogether darker and much sleazier. A man (using the term loosely) who was unable to complete a degree course, in the days when 50% of the population went to university.

      Liked by 11 people

    3. To think that people voted to put this piece of scum into a position of power , this entity is mocking and denigrating a politician who has fought for Scotland and Scots all his life and has done more for independence than him or his imposter boss

      I thank Alex Salmond and the group of ALBA for STATING they are going nowhere , it is down to the corruption within the establishment and the ignorance of voters that ALBA failed this time but tomorrow is another day , let’s hope Alex continues with his court cases and EXPOSES the disgusting swamp that passes for government in Scotland

      Liked by 15 people

    4. Any adult who covers a page with the letters “H” and “A” actually makes Boris Johnson appear capable………and that’s some feat!

      Liked by 6 people

  3. Stewart McDonald – another independence pretender. supping at the trough of Westminster. He’s not fit to lace the boots of Alex Salmond.
    Glad Alba will carry on and looking forward to helping them gain seats on local councils next year.

    Liked by 18 people

  4. Thanks to Laurie Flynn, Alex Salmond and all the candidates for giving me a reason for voting. I was down about 8 weeks ago given the behaviour of the SNP leadership and, although this has hardly improved, the advent of Alba led by Alex completely lifted my spirits.

    The positions taken on Independence (much more urgency), women’s rights (protection of single sex spaces) and UK assets/liabilities (clean balance sheet) will, in my opinion, bear fruit once they are given air time and the electorate.

    I’d also like to express my appreciation of Iain’s efforts during the last 6 weeks, keeping us up to date with developments via his daily blog posts and reports from his travel round the country as well as his general enthusiasm and upbeat tone in the face of adversity.

    Lang may yer lum reek, young man.

    Liked by 22 people

    1. There’s a massive hill to climb, but the effort, expertise and character so far shown is most encouraging. Alec should stay as leader – and I would be the first to point out some of his mistakes as leader of the SNP, but I also appreciate just how much graft, grit and political weight he brought to the SNP. He has so much he can give, and goodness knows, we need him now.

      Liked by 14 people

    2. Agreed.

      And I hope Alba keep promoting their policies and publicising them for everyone to see what the missed out on. And, it’s good to hear Alba will be contesting council seats – very soon that might be where the real power lies anyway – promising to sort potholes (sinkholes in some cases) permanently will be a definite vote winner, in case Alba needs any tips!

      Liked by 7 people

  6. I like the point about there being over 50% on the list vote for Independence supporting parties, as that is very significant and makes the case that the majority of Scots want to be self-governing. Whatever the PM tries to argue about other figures such as seats, he cannot deny those numbers. Alba should be making this point and emphasising that it is due in part to Alba votes.
    Is there a network in place, eg via the local organisers who set up leafletting etc to enable us to get together and make plans? Even before the local elections next year we need to think about possible demonstrations (within the current guidelines) at Holyrood or even Bute House to remind the FM of her commitment to Independence and also to conntinue educating voters about how the Holyrood electoral system works, about the dangers of the current gender legislation as well as exploring alternative routes to Independence rather than a referendum, perhaps using the UCJ or UN to make our case.

    Liked by 11 people

    1. SADLY NOT, Alex and ALBA are NOT Donald Trump with a massive support organisation behind them/him who can use social media to get the message across…. then of course being blanked by the MSN was not only undemocratic but to be expected.

      WITHOUT troops on the ground fully tooled up with good handouts for educating the masses about ALBA and the AMS/List vote, that was both a mountain to climb and a very big tactical error.

      Focusing online and using F/Book and Twitter ETC, in the short time frame available that had a very limited possibility of generating enough votes for ALBA to get one never mind 32 MSP’s elected.

      GUTTED BIG TIME I am almost as bad as 2014

      BUT I remember how the SNP started, so in some ways ALBA are doing better.

      Looks like it is going to take a while to get INDEPENDENCE I just hope I can be here when that happens

      I see one SNP MPS thinks ten years is fine, and he thinks the SNP need to see the polls at 70% supporting Independence before they will act.

      I can understand SNP 1&2 from an SNP point of view as it maximises the vote for the SNP. ONE MILLION more people think NS and the SNP are doing a good job. And since the SNP are not really interested in INDEPENDENCE it matters not if a few unionists get into the Scottish Parliament via the AMS/List vote.

      So expecting the SNP to even hint at voting Alba on the AMS/List vote was a totally unrealistic proposition doubly so with AS as the leader of ALBA

      Just one task is to persuade that ONE MILLION SNP List voters that IF they want INDEPENDENCE (lets assume 99% of them do) they need to support ALBA that cannot be done on blogs like this or on F/B and Twitter not even thinking about the people who vote SNP on the constituency.

      SO not the result we were hoping for BUT that WAS A BIG ASK

      At least we have a solid platform to build on so onwards and upwards.

      Liked by 3 people

    3. “Over 50% of voters on the Regional List voted for Independence.”

      This amounts to a majority of voters (as well as a majority of seats/members of parliament) in a national election supporting independence, which is normally sufficient for a declaration of independence of any country/people.

      And more especially in a situation where a people are continually being denied a referendum, one would expect the National Party to deploy that democratic election result to full effect. However we know the SNP will settle in and take their seats, oaths and salaries this week – rather than take sovereignty back.

      Liked by 3 people

  7. Sturgeon tonight put a nose around the SNP neck by stating the UK Tory government had no right to stand in the way of a referendum and the people of Scotland on 06.05.21 had made its choice and that choice was a referendum during the term of the Scottish parliament, if Sturgeon doesn’t honor that statement then her party will be no better than the Tories and what she is accusing the Tories of doing SNP would have done themselves, denied the Scots the right to have their say Constitutional question.

    Sticks and stone and to be honest I’m sure Mr Salmond never gives a single thought about Stewart MacDonald but I’m sure Mr Salmond happy knowing Stewart MacDonald thinking about him.

    I’m a proud founding member of the Alba Party and I’m glad there going no where, because the SNP have a fight on their hands and Sturgeon and her cronies don’t have the experience to deal with the British state and the greens will run at the first opportunity, sit back and watch the show it’ll be one to remember.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Sturgeon tonight put a noose around the SNP’s neck by stating the UK Tory government had no right to stand in the way of a referendum and the people of Scotland on 06.05.21 had made its choice and that choice was a referendum during the term of the Scottish parliament, if Sturgeon doesn’t honour that statement then her party will be no better than the Tories and what she is accusing the Tories of doing the SNP would have done themselves, denied the Scots the right to have their say on the Constitutional question.

      Sticks and stones, and to be honest I’m sure Mr Salmond never gives a single thought about Stewart MacDonald but I’m sure Mr Salmond happy knowing Stewart MacDonald thinking about him.

      I’m a proud founding member of the Alba Party and I’m glad there going no where, because the SNP have a fight on their hands and Sturgeon and her cronies don’t have the experience to deal with the British state and the greens will run at the first opportunity, sit back and watch the show it’ll be one to remember.

      Sorry about my mistakes.

      Liked by 3 people

  8. A good, measured, response from Alex Salmond. And the fight has only just begun – time to start building on good solid foundations.

    I also hope to see the prosecution against Leslie Evans appear in court very soon, and for lots of her dirty laundry to be aired in public.

    And yes, the SNP2 voters appear to have elected a ton of unionists. In glasgow the SNP appear to prefer to have Annie Wells in parliament rather than Ailsa Gray – did any of them bother to check out how competent Ailsa obviously is? And determinedly pro independence: I really took a liking to her & wanted her as my representative – but no, the SNP prefer Annie bloody Wells in parliament. Thanks for that, hope they like their results.

    I wrote this as a reply on the previous thread:

    “I had a short discussion recently on Craig Murrays blog that got me thinking about the different voting systems we have – I’ve now decided that I like the d’hondt system: it is actually a reasonable PR system, and fairly easy to understand. Hm, well, for some folk anyway.

    Single transferrable vote (STV) system, that’s used for council elections, is always promoted as one of the most proportional – but after a chat with an Irish chap (they use STV in the GE) I realised it only works in certain circumstances. I had noticed the outcome of the last Irish GE was a bit,,, skewed, and right enough, the bigger, richer, parties that could stand many candidates got the most seats for less votes. One of the problems is, its not an easy voting system to understand – you HAVE TO write numbers against every candidate, even when you hate them, and I don’t think that sits right with anyone.

    So on reflection, it’s big political parties per se that cause electoral unfairness, not the voting system itself.

    STV works not too bad for council elections because, I think, there is a higher proportion of independents standing. You can’t tactically vote with STV (except to always number ALL the candidates), but candidates can tactically stand. That is, if ISP and Alba and the other pro-Indy parties can make a big showing of candidates, concentrating on key wards for each party, instead of each party trying for representation in each and every one, there is a better chance of major gains. So, overwhelm just a few councils with choice of candidate, and ignore others. ”

    So, I’d say, start picking and choosing local council areas to target – don’t spread everyone thin this time (though, it was worth it to try and get national coverage in the GE, but that’s not an issue here) – have as many candidates standing in each ward as possible, even if some are paper candidates. There are a high proportion of activists in Alba – ask them to actively put their names forward, in principle, for a council seat.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Anyway, I put a wee bung to Alba there – their coffers must be a bit dry after that big frenzied push & there is much need to mobilise again. I won’t join a political party, but I hope the money will be of some use to keep the party active.

      Liked by 7 people

    2. ” you HAVE TO write numbers against every candidate, even when you hate them, ”

      It’s called Vote till you Boak and I did it at the last council elections. It was the first time my pencil ever went near a Conservative candidate’s name!!!

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Aye, it sure does go against the grain, Panda. We should maybe have weekly practice sessions of ranking loathed politicians so we become inured to it by the time polling day comes!

        Liked by 4 people

  10. The unionists did well tactically voting. They panicked when ALBA first came on the scene. The reason they did so well was they all voted for the union rather than their party.
    Unfortunately for the INDY movement the unionists were smarter than them. They, in the SNP waisted 1 million votes voting for a particular party SNP rather than for the Independence of Scotland.

    Unless these Indy voters waken up to how the D’Hondt voting system works, they will shoot themselves in the foot at each election & never get Independence. Voting SNP1 & 2 was just plain stupid & like in Sept 2014 they are going to regret the way they voted by 2026 when they will be no nearer to Independence & Scotland’s economy is in a far worse state than it is at the moment.

    I so hope The Lesley Evans trial, is not to far off in the future. Is it possible for the LA is drag the starting date out, kicking it into the long grass?

    Liked by 6 people

  11. So long as ALEX SALMOND is involved in politics, then I will always have an interest in Politics. As alife long voter for the SNP for the past 54years. The happiest & best times were when Alex was LEADER. The worse of times these past 6yrs, have been under STURGEONS leadership. I look at her today &nI actually see the words CON ARTIST printed on her forehead, She practically lies everytime she opens her mouth. She proved the coward she is, when she yes it was SHE, that stopped ALEX or ALBA from being accepted onto every debate. Because of her lies, they way she has tried to send an innocent man to jail, she couldn’t possibly face him up, LIARS do not like having to look the person in the eye they have LIED about. She proved she was a liar & a coward during the run up to this election. Now the media don’t have ALEX as their front page stories, She is going to come under even more scrutiny, & I await the day they turn their full nastiness onto her, & destroy her as they most surely will. ALBA WILL RISE, Slowly maybe, but surely. And one day, we shall see ALEX SALMOND back where he belongs in a Scottish Parliament, Scots do not know how lucky we are to have such a genuine politician fighting with us to free us from the idiots & corruption that is WM. I AM ALBA, I STAND WITH ALEX,

    Liked by 12 people

    1. Sadly she is paying the press to stay onside. That doesn’t neccessarily mean they will but they have been busy little bees burying ALBA and NOT asking awkward questions about the Hate Crime Bill and the GRA.

      Liked by 4 people

  12. So how did both votes SNP turn out? It elected Emma Roddick in H&I a super woke chancer lowly ranked by members but parachuted to the top by declaring a disability – Borderline Personality Disorder. I’ll leave it to you to google it and see whether it is compatible with an MSP’s job. In the South you got super woke Emma Harper. Finished second in the rankings to Joan McAlpine but got top place by declaring a disability (diabetes). Joan McAlpine is no longer an MSP and one of the few voices for women is ejected from law making. Paul Wheelhouse also lost his seat but did not declare his disability in the gerrymandering process.

    A few women on twitter have said they would donate to a crowd fund if Joan took the SNP to Court. Jonathan Mitchell one of Scotland’s most respected QC’s legal opinion to the SNP was that the gerrymandering was illegal and would cost them hundred of thousands if challenged in court. That didn’t stop my MP giving her casting vote to approve on a deadlocked NEC after two people who would directly benefit from the policy (and one indirectly) voted for it. Only one person who would benefit had the decency to recuse themselves.

    This is what we are up against. Come the council elections I will once again vote till I boak. ISP, AfI and Alba give me hope.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I have borderline personality disorder. I take offence at you. I managed to work for many years. Its a suicide ideation problem mostly and usually it’s caused by childhood abuse, physical and sexual and trauma. So dont hate on bpd thanks.

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      1. I didn’t hate on you or at the very least that was not my intention. I asked if the condition was compatible with being in a high pressure job. Some disabilities mean that some jobs are not suited to people eg. blind people can’t work as drivers. It’s not hate to say so.

        I have several disabilities myself and I accept there are some jobs I can never do because of that. If Roddick proves to be an excellent MSP then she will have proved me wrong.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. It’s actually a greatly badly understood mental health illness. Its very similar to ptsd. But people seem to have confused narcissistic personality disorder with bpd. It’s like every other illness. Dependent on the reasons you acquired it. Its a problem within, not externally. What you did was discriminate against someone with a mental health condition. I’m pretty sure most tory mps must have seriois narcissistic personality disorder, psychopathy issues. Yet noone questions their brains. Just don’t do that. It’s nasty

        Like

      3. “What you did was discriminate against someone with a mental health condition.”

        No I did not do that. I support you in your battle (and indeed Roddick) to deal with a difficult condition, it can’t be easy. But stop putting words in my mouth or intentions on me that I do not have. You have no idea what my disabilities are so why are you assuming they couldn’t include mental health issues?

        I think Emma Roddick is for a number of reasons unsuitable to be an MSP. The process by which she became an MSP was also illegal according to a QC.

        Now I’m not going to respond to you again on this subject. I wish you well in your health and hope you are getting all the support you want and need.

        Liked by 3 people

      4. You tried to make out someone wirh bpd wasn’t fit for her position. So that’s exactly what you did. I’m a bit sick of people who don’t have bpd, commenting like experts. U live it no. I do. And im telling as someone with bpd. Thats exactly what you did

        Like

  13. It’s easy to be wise in hindsight. What if unionist tactical voting on the 73 constituency seats had been successful? What if the SNP had failed to get the vote out? There was mass evidence that tactical voting by unionists was happening right across the country. Fortunately it failed, overall, yet still the SNP failed to gain some target seats. SNP came very close to taking Jackie Baillie’s Dumbarton seat and Aberdeen West. In Edinburgh Southern the SNP increased the vote yet half of the Tories defected to Labour to keep the SNP out. Labour’s narrow 2016 margin was increased to a whopping majority. What does this tell us? The unionists are organised and savvy. And they haven’t gone away.

    Besides, parliamentary presence is overrated. Alba can achieve a lot as a pressure group and think tank outside of Holyrood if it plays its cards well. Slinging mud at other Yessers and calling them stupid will not build an alliance for change but will only relegate Alba to a bunker. I know folks are bitterly disappointed but you have to rise above this, and celebrate your successes in launching a party with 5000 members in only six weeks. It was wildly optimistic to believe a sudden transformative leap would happen. But a foundation has been made.

    Rather than attacking our own side how about attacking the red-blue-orange alliance? Labour voters lent their votes to the Tories in many constituencies but did the Tories vote for Labour on the list? No! Mugs! Labour is still the third party. How did that work out?

    Like

    1. Marriana, the result in Dumbarton was an utter disgrace for the SNP.

      This was the SNP number one target seat in Scotland. A seat held by a slender 109 votes.

      And so what did the party hierarchy do. Well first they binned a capable and well liked sitting councilor and deputy council leader who wanted to stand as a candidate. And how did they do this. Easy, the vetting committee, and a committee composed of one of at least one individual reputed to be a coterie woke (who as a candidate herself ended up top of regional list as a BAME) the committee rejected the councilor at vetting.

      But how you can be a popular councilor, deputy Council leader, ( and subsequently an NEC member) and not be suitable to pass vetting is a huge question. But local members suspect all too well the reason why!

      The vetting process was absolutely abused every which way.

      And then next, the SNP party HQ, cancelled at short notice the Constituency arranged hustings. And in doing so withdrew all computer access pulling all communication from the various branch secretaries and the CA Convener. Silencing branch secretaries is a neat move to shut out communication with with the members. And with HQ concomitantly intervening and contacting members directly – and arranging alternative hustings run by them, the next phase of the manipulations moved on.

      But of a stink and stench you may say, and many would say so. the next thing is the well touted non local Edinburgh based gay activist third sector background leadership favourite who then as an outsider apparently trumped the selection poll and was selected the candidate for Dumbarton.

      And the result thereafter with few, local members participating in what was a tide of yellow elsewhere, was that the local Labour MSP hugely increased her majority.

      And so spectacular failure for Dumbarton the most marginal seat in Scotland.

      Had the Sturgeon leadership not intervened, had the local constituency and branches been allowed to select their own local candidate, and had there not been all this intervention and manipulation by the then the result in Dumbarton I am sure would have been much different.

      Scotland’s most marginal seat and Dumbarton SNP blew it.

      Liked by 6 people

      1. Thanks for this background. Are you saying that Labour’s increased vote came from disaffected SNP voters voting for Baillie in protest?

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      2. Labour’s vote went up by 6% and the Conservatives down by 6%. The LD vote also went down. It looks like tactical voting by the unionists to me and nothing to do with the candidate. The turnout was also high at 68%.

        Or maybe you are saying that rather than vote for Tony Guiliano the local SNP members who were so scunnered at the selection process that they stayed away? If so, who is to blame?

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      3. SNP HQ have been so scunnered by Dumbarton SNP and their shenanigans in recent years that they parachuted in a woke candidate from Edinburgh in the hope that they would succeed where previously they had failed. This time they failed again. Very few locals knew who this guy was and there were a lot a raised eyebrows when he won the selection process. Though he was suspected of being a woke, in true fashion he played his cards close to his chest and played down his enthusiasm for Gender woowoo policies. This dishonesty is typical of them and the way they play politics. There are many others in the SNP who do this: I’m sure you know the names.

        Regarding the vote there was a lot of tactical voting and, for Tories, they were comfortable voting for the right winger, Baillie. There were the votes of those employed at Faslane and Coulport bases who were persuaded about the threat to their mostly cushy jobs should the SNP gain power. Then there was the loyalist vote which is quite numerical in some parts of the constituency though, strangely, other orange strongholds in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire returned SNP candidates. What is it about Dumbarton???

        Finally, no matter what you think of JB she is a very hard-working candidate for the last 22 years, in what is a mostly deprived constituency. As with Glasgow, the local council is SNP-run, but in common with our biggest city there has been little sign of improvement from the bad old days of Labour maladministration. That also helped Ms Baillie and there is little sign that she won’t be in place for another 22 years.

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    2. Mairianna – sick of SNP apologists like you.Both votes SNP was always going to be avote for the British parties. Sturgeon is a self centred fraud who will never deliver independence but will certainly enlarge her bank balance.

      Liked by 3 people

    3. Mairianna Clyde, can we assume your opinion on parliamentary presence is based on the performance of Nicola Sturgeon and her spineless lickspittles within the SNP in our Holyrood Parliament?

      The key protagonist in tactical voting was Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, every vote counts in deciding who will be First Minister, projected above a logo Protect Our NHS. Sturgeon is despicable beyond description in her self obsessed belief of her own importance to the detriment of every man woman and child in Scotland.

      You criticise the Unionist parties for lending votes, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP GIFTED, YES GIFTED, THE BEST PART OF A MILLION VOTES TO PARTIES WHICH ARE FUNDAMENTALLY OPPOSED TO SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE. ON THAT FACT ALONE NICOLA STURGEON IS NOT ON OUR SIDE AND HAS YET TO PROVE SHE EVER WILL BE!

      Liked by 4 people

  14. The difference between Alex and Nicola is that Alex has taught her all she knows but he has not taught her all he knows. That is the difference, as she will find out.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. And so Queen Nicola has presided over the failure to achieve a majority.

    And already the Unionist media and Prime Minister are dismissing her as a minority party falling short of a majority – which is technically true.

    So now again, another minority government in coalition with the nine Greens.

    But oh how different it could have been. With 1,094,381 regional votes cast for the SNP, This huge vote elected two SNP MSPs.

    Exactly what Alex Salmond the man who a actually got a majority with 69 MSPs in 2011 warned off.

    But no, Nicola only wanted a simple majority, campaigned for that, attacked Salmond and Alba, promoted all campaign literature to SNP 1 and 2.

    This result is therefore exactly what Sturgeon campaigned for -, a simple minority and nearly 1.1 million wasted votes delivering 2 seats.

    Liked by 8 people

  17. *does a dance 💃. Glad to hear you’re here to stay team Alba. Just wish more of the cultists realised all we were trying to do was reduce the british numbers, yet still they didn’t believe us and over 1m list votes wasted and 40 more brits than there needed to be in holyrood. And theyre still blaming Alba for that. Hope they’ve learned their lesson. Sadly I doubt it

    Liked by 5 people

  19. If the SNP leadership doesn’t deliver independence during this parliament’s lifetime they will rightly go down in history as traitors to Scotland.

    Liked by 5 people

  20. Does anyone know where it is possible to get the figures for the list votes cast per party by regions and the total?
    I’d like to see how many votes Alba actually got but can’t find the information.
    I read somewhere that Alba got over 40,000 votes but would like to know the exact number. The difference between the pro- and anti- Independence parties’ votes was 44,313 so Alba must have made a significant contribution to that which I think we should make more widely known.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. You can find all the region totals on twitter @BallotBoxScot as well as individual constituency list totals if you look through all the posts.

      The Alba votes totalled 46,538 comprising with (1.72%) national avg

      Central 5345 (1.6%)
      Glasgow 5408 (1.8%)
      H&I 3828 (1.6%)
      Lothian 6141 (1.6)%
      Mid Scot/Fife 5893 (1.7%)
      NE 8269 (2.3%)
      South 5521 (1.5%)
      West 6133 (1.6)%

      The highest share I saw was 3.5% in Banff and Buchan. Some of the lowest <1% were in South constituencies.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I can tell you now…Alba Beith is here to stay. Our local council ward is changing from Beith & Kilbirnie to include Dalry and revert back to the Garnock Valley Ward for the council elections next year. I’m in the process of setting up new leaflet drop and campaign area maps and runs. Soon as possible will be ready to contest in North Ayrshire Council elections when Alba gives the go ahead…let’s get in there and build a campaign…Again, many thanks to all who supported the Alba campaign.

    Liked by 7 people

  22. Willie at 11.26. Thank you for that explanation. I wondered why a slim majority suddenly turned into a substantial majority against the trend in the rest of the country.
    In recent years, SNPHQ have a history of imposing candidates on previously well-running branches. This was an appalling decision and I hope the Constituency will make this plain to HQ. HQ scuppered the SNP majority.
    As far as Alba is concerned, I am reminded of the mid-60’s when I joined the SNP. We just campaigned and took the ridicule from opponents. Let’s just get on with it. My only problem now is that I can’t wheech up and down tenement stairs any more.

    Liked by 5 people

  23. We might not be too small and too poor, but I think (country wide) last week we proved we are too stupid to actually go for independence.

    A Big Job ahead for ALBA educating and convincing the masses to bring them onboard.

    Even the Tories could see that NS on the TV every day was boosting her image in an unprecedented way, the obverse keeping AS off the TV worked big time.

    Maybe things will hot up if we see a few Scottish government people in court, could be even possible that the saintly Nicola gets dragged into all of this.

    BUT ALBA need to start forming on the ground groups to get the message out. We have named regional co-ordinators it is way past the time to hear from them with a sensible action plan.

    To quote one of the AS GET HIM LOT we have lost that battle, but the war is far from over……….time to regroup and build up our troops’ ammunition, resources, supply chain and plan and develop a winning strategy.

    The Thermonuclear option failed to succeed we need to build up a country wide team. We have the leader, we now need to build that army if we are to succeed. Plus we need a well-developed strategy that gets ALBA on the MSN frequently and regularly that is going to be a key requisite in helping to build this army.

    Every Journey starts with the first step. We have taken that first step we are here now….lets move forward on this journey to INDEPENDENCE

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  24. Our SNP voters don’t look happy with their landslide victory do they? Same pursed lips, mean look and body language as the No voters on 19/9/14.

    One thing now makes sense. They took down their SNP and YES stickers from the windows for this election – they did not want Alba at their door, they knew – on some level – they were going to vote against Indy.

    They are going to be desperate to justify that now, by finding ways to blame Alba. Once they do that, it will be entrenched and nothing will shift it.

    We need to leave them all the way alone, and get on with the positive.

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    1. Personally, I’ve already written off the SNP as a lost cause, as regards independence. I’m sick of hearing about them in fact – every single independence blog and nearly all the comments revolve around that party, there is no escape it seems, it’s incessant. I’m holding out for the possibility some discussions – maybe comparing Alba or ISP policies or something will start up, hopefully soon, because it’s pointless having the SNP central to every discussion or opinion when we’d be best off assuming they’re irrelevant – no one knows what they’ll do or not do, or what will happen with them, so why give them air time? I’d prefer to see them completely ignored, and have the politics of independence assume it needs to build support from the ground up, near enough starting from scratch.

      Letting go the resentment, and mobilising some real planning – Alex Salmond is right, we should already be setting up institutions and infrastructure in preparation of independence, we can be agreeing on the best ways to do this, and the best ones to implement; timing as well. We can see how many things can be lobbied for or done through alternative means without the involvement of government. Tons of stuff to get done and talk about. Navel-gazing about a redundant party isn’t moving us towards any goals. (This isn’t a personal criticism of your comment Daisy, which is informative, I clicked reply because of your last sentence: then kept going!)

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  25. An interesting take on the SNPs victory by George Kerevan, in which he doesn’t so much praise Sturgeon, but realises that she must be more than just lucky, in what looks like becoming the longest serving FM by 2026 if she stays on that is.

    Kerevan adds and I think rightly so that a niche has opened up for the Alba party left of the SNP, with the SNP now pandering to the middle and upper classes in Scotland, to afraid to hold an indyref without a nod of consent from them, that might come when the economy begins refilling their coffers again.

    Alba can get on with acquiring support from the common working man and woman, who seeks independence amongst other socialist type policies. The Alba party at present I think, just needs to grow over the next five years, and if Sturgeon hasn’t held her indyref by then, its very likely many who voted for the SNP, in the pretext that she would hold an indyref might decide to vote for the Alba party instead.

    One way or another we’ll see over the next parliamentary term how independence will fair under Sturgeons tenure. Sturgeon knows the talking will eventually need to stop and that action will need to take its place. There’s only so many promises on independence that the electorate will believe before they desert the ship.

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