I DO not share Steph Paton’s far-too-evident loathing of Alex Salmond (Alex Salmond’s single Yes candidate plan would be a disaster and a laugh,…
where this is deserved. But I can see Alba’s Scotland United wheeze for what it is – a ploy to embarrass the SNP and give Alba a stick with which to beat them come election time.
Anybody foolish enough to believe the patter used to sell the Scotland United “plan” – or devious enough to pretend that they do – will have an excuse to condemn the SNP for rejecting the suggestion. Given that the “plan” cannot work, the only explanation for it is a bit of good old-fashioned political gamesmanship.Which is fine by me. Or would be if the stakes weren’t so high. Alba and the SNP are rival political parties.
Alba has form on this. The “supermajority” silliness being peddled by Salmond at the 2021 Scottish general election was very similar to the Scotland United nonsense. Neither was ever intended to work as was claimed. Both are tabled solely to elicit a rejection from the SNP. Disappointingly, given Salmond’s reputation as a political operator, it’s not even a particularly clever ploy. In fact, it’s quite crude.
Disappointing is the first word that comes to mind when considering Alba. The potential was there for it to be a real force for Scotland’s cause. But the defectors from the SNP brought with them to Alba the tunnel-vision obsession with winning elections, as if that was the only thing that matters. In terms of mundane party politics, maybe it is the only thing that matters. But Alba claims to be intent on the fight to restore Scotland’s.
The truth is that Scotland’s cause is being failed by all of Scotland’s politicians. Even the few who venture from the party line of whichever party do so in a way that is superficial and more about presentation than substance. No politician or party is even talking about the reality of Scotland’s predicament, far less offering the radical plan that is required if the constitutional issue is to be satisfactorily resolved.