I’ve read some criticisms on Twitter that Alba supporters want Nicola Sturgeon to lose in Glasgow Southside. Well, that’s certainly not the position of Alba as a party, or of their candidates – they’re actively urging that people should vote for all SNP candidates on the constituency ballot, including Nicola Sturgeon. If anyone is saying anything different, they’re just random supporters who do not speak for anyone but themselves. And, yes, I know that Stuart Campbell is one of them and that he’s influential, but he’s self-evidently a law unto him and takes instructions from no-one. As the SNP have discovered themselves over the years with the manufactured ‘Cybernat’ nonsense, it’s not possible to control the behaviour of every single supporter on social media, and to be expected to take responsibility for everything they get up to is completely unrealistic.
But it’s worth repeating the point that Alba are actively encouraging people to vote for Nicola Sturgeon and other SNP candidates, and are even putting that advice on their leaflets. To the best of my knowledge, no other pro-independence party is doing that. If you asked the Greens whether you should vote for Nicola Sturgeon or Anas Sarwar in Southside, you’d probably get a neutral answer – you’d be told that they have problems with both the SNP and Labour. Even worse, the Greens are actually standing against the SNP on the constituency ballot in a dozen seats – and those are all seats they cannot possibly win, with the exception of a tiny outside chance for Patrick Harvie in Glasgow Kelvin. That means in eleven seats, the Greens are knowingly asking people to vote in a way that will make it more likely that an anti-independence candidate will win, and less likely that we will have a pro-independence majority when this election is over. And yet people still claim with a straight face that Alba are the problem, and that the Greens are the serious option for anyone who really wants to maximise pro-indy representation.
Just imagine if the Greens were held to the same standard as Alba. They’d be absolutely crucified. “You’re neutral on whether Nicola Sturgeon or Anas Sarwar should be the MSP for Southside? Get in the sea! You want people to vote against Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central and risk yet another Tory victory? Get in the sea!”
To be clear, it’s entirely defensible for the Greens to say that independence is only one of a number of issues they care about, and isn’t even the most important one, and that they therefore shouldn’t be expected to back the SNP on the constituency ballot. But what they can’t do is have it both ways and claim that they, and not Alba, are the party trying to maximise pro-independence representation in Holyrood. Quite clearly Alba are trying to maximise the number of pro-indy seats and the Greens are not. Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater would be happy enough if there’s a Yes majority in the new parliament but that is not what their electoral strategy is geared towards producing.
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Another constructive suggestion for Stuart Campbell which he will doubtless ignore – instead of wasting the remainder of the campaign talking about nothing else but the trans issue, why not do a short sequel to the Wee Blue Book giving reasons for an Alba vote? You could do it as a PDF file, people could print off multiple copies and hand it out to their neighbours, family and friends. (But make independence the pamphlet’s focus – you’re not going to win many votes by banging on about women with beards.)
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You can catch-up with Episode 6 of the Scot Goes Popcast, in which I speak to Alba Party leader Alex Salmond, HERE (with video) or HERE (audio only). And if you find Scot Goes Pop’s coverage of polls helpful and would like it to continue, I’m currently running a fundraiser HERE.
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