ALBA have projected their logo onto historic Scottish sites with less than 24 hours to go until polls open. It comes after Alex Salmond’s party projected the Alba logo onto the BBC Scotland building at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, ahead of a leaders’ debate they were not invited to participate in. Last night Alba released images of their logo showing on Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Dundee’s Caird Hall. Different polling companies have predicted varying levels of support for the party, which hopes to secure an independence “supermajority” by only fielding last candidates. Panelbase has consistently put support at about 6%, which would give the party a handful of MSPs, while others have been between 2-3%.
ALBA have projected their logo onto historic Scottish sites with less than 24 hours to go until polls open. It comes after Alex Salmond’s party projected the Alba logo onto the BBC Scotland building at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, ahead of a leaders’ debate they were not invited to participate in. Last night Alba released images of their logo showing on Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Dundee’s Caird Hall. Different polling companies have predicted varying levels of support for the party, which hopes to secure an independence “supermajority” by only fielding last candidates. Panelbase has consistently put support at about 6%, which would give the party a handful of MSPs, while others have been between 2-3%.
As the UK government has stated “now is not the time” for another referendum to be held, we could see an informal or “wildcat” referendum being held, or a potential legal challenge. Either way, we face five years of constitutional debate and instability, at precisely the time when the focus needs to be on rebuilding our economy and public services in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
There are clearly those with an interest in destabilising the United Kingdom. According to a report published on Monday by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, Iran is using social media disinformation to influence the election in favour of pro-independence parties. The hostile regime is utilising fake accounts to pose as Scottish residents sympathetic to independence, and share online material promoting parties backing separation.
Les Huckfield, a former Labour MP and junior industry minister, announced his support today. Mr Huckfield left the Labour party in protest over the Iraq war, having served in Prime Minister James Callaghan s government as under-secretary of state for industry between 1976 and 1979. He was also against New Labour s continuing political drift under Tony Blair. In 2014 he announced he was supporting independence, urging the electorate to vote Yes in the referendum. Mr Huckfield, who lives in Perthshire, said Scottish independence was the only way Scots could ensure they can guide the Covid recovery, instead of being handcuffed to Westminster. He said electing a “supermajority” for independence in the Scottish Parliament would put “immense pressure” on the Boris Johnson’s UK Government to accept the will of the Scottish people.
Monday May 3, 2021, 12:01 AM
Holyrood
Thursday’s Holyrood election could be crucial in determining the future of Scotland in the UK.
While Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP is certain to emerge as the largest party after all the ballots have been counted, the question of whether they will get an overall majority is on a knife edge, according to some polls.
Winning a majority in the 129-seat Scottish Parliament is tricky, due to the proportional representation system used to elect MSPs.
A total of 73 constituency MSPs will be returned in the election, with the remaining 56 coming from the regional list ballot, which is used to try to bring the number of representatives each party has in line with their share of the vote.