This is a Holyrood election like never before. It is taking place during a pandemic, over a quarter of voters are planning to vote by post, and Alex Salmond is attempting to return from the political wilderness. In this fast-changing context, here are three key trends that Ipsos MORI and STV News’ latest Scottish Political Monitor indicates we should look out for.
1. The SNP looks on course for a majority, but there are some warning signs for the party. The SNP is still in a very strong position on the constituency vote. Our latest poll puts the party on 53% of the vote, 23 points clear of the Scottish Conservatives who have the next largest share of the vote.
Top Sturgeon aide backs Salmond s Alba Party ONE of Nicola Sturgeon’s most trusted former advisers has backed voting for Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party. Noel Dolan, Ms Sturgeon’s senior special adviser and policy guru while she was deputy First Minister, said it would improve the odds of a pro-independence Holyrood. The endorsement comes in spite of the First Minister accusing list-only Alba of trying to game the Holyrood electoral system and asking people to give both their votes to the SNP. Mr Salmond, who is due to set out a route map to independence this afternoon, says Alba can mop up list votes that would otherwise be “wasted” if they went to the SNP, given their strength in constituencies makes it harder for them to get top-up MSPs.
Last modified on Tue 6 Apr 2021 15.41 EDT
Alex Salmond has claimed that resistance from Westminster to a fresh independence referendum âwill crumbleâ if Scottish voters elect a large number of pro-independence MSPs.
The former first minister said recent polls suggested a âsuper-majorityâ of up to 90 pro-independence MSPs could be elected in May, including a number from his new nationalist party, Alba, which launched at the end of last month.
Describing his new party as âthe grit in the independence oysterâ, Salmond said Albaâs goal was to push his successor as Scottish National party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, into opening talks on Scotland leaving the UK in the first week of the new parliament.
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Updated: April 5, 2021, 8:14 pm
Patrick Harvie.
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Alex Salmond has been compared with Nigel Farage in a swipe at the former first minister’s new pro-independence party.
Greens leader Patrick Harvie likened him to the Brexit campaigner in the battle for votes on Holyrood’s regional ballot. That’s where the Greens and Alba party will be hoping to secure MSPs on May 6, with both claiming they can provide more pro-independence politicians.
Mr Salmond said his fledgling group can increase the share of MSPs who want Scotland to leave the UK. However, Mr Harvie said there is no need for voters to switch from his party, which helped the SNP maintain the majority balance on the constitution since 2016.