Former First Minister Alex Salmond is launching a new political party and is to stand as a candidate in the Scottish Parliament elections on 6 May.
Salmond, who left the SNP amid a bitter feud with Nicola Sturgeon, will try and make a political comeback with the Alba Party.
He will be the new party’s leader and, if elected, would have his third term in the Scottish Parliament.
The Alba Party was registered with the Electoral Commission this year and provided its address as 1 Lochrin Square, 92-98 Fountainbridge Town, in Edinburgh.
It was registered by by journalist Laurie Flynn and will aim for a ‘super majority’ to gain independence.
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Salmond was First Minister from 2007 until he resigned after the independence referendum loss in 2014.
He was an SNP member for decades, but left after it emerged the Scottish Government had investigated complaints of sexual misconduct against him.
The probe was ruled to be unlawful and destroyed his long-term friendship with Sturgeon.
He was later charged with sexual offences, following allegations made by 10 women, but acquitted after a trial last year.
During a Holyrood Inquiry into the Scottish Government’s unlawful probe into him, Salmond alleged that Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell and chief of staff Liz Lloyd had been part of a plot to seek to have him jailed.
The Scottish Parliament inquiry ruled that Sturgeon had misled parliament, but a separate probe found she had not breached the ministerial code of conduct.
An SNP spokesperson responded that this is perhaps the most predictable development in Scottish politics.
“At this time of crisis, the interests of the country must come first and should not be obscured by the self interest of someone who shows no sign whatsoever of reflecting on serious concerns about his own conduct – concerns which, to put it mildly, raise real questions about the appropriateness of a return to public office.
“Our plans to get Scotland through and out of the Covid crisis, and support a recovery with fairness and equality at its heart, with the opportunity to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands, will be the focus of our election campaign.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair Alistair Carmichael said: “There are no questions about Scotland’s future to which Alex Salmond is the answer.
“This astonishing announcement shows just how divided the SNP are – a few years ago no one could have imagined that the former First Minister and his protege would be at one another’s throats.
“It shows the arrogance of the nationalists that they want to use the Scottish Parliament as an arena to fight their own feuds instead of being a forum to put recovery first and to make life better for the people of Scotland.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “The people of Scotland deserve so much better than the score settling and old politics that the SNP and Tories are offering.
“We are still in the midst of a pandemic, lives and livelihoods are still at risk, so this election must be about our national recovery and the people of Scotland’s priorities, not the old arguments between personalities who believe their interest matters more than the national interest.”
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