I’ve made this point before, I think, but the Wikipedia article on the Alba Party is an abomination, obviously written by people who are extremely hostile. The first paragraph concludes with the words “No Alba Party candidate has been elected at any election”, which is a reasonable point to make, but not with such pejorative wording and with such gratuitously prominent placement. There’s a section about criticism of the party, which again is totally reasonably and normal, but the length of it and the proportion of the article that it takes up is absurd – it’s an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. There’s also a potentially catty reference to Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh being a right-of-centre politician, which I’m not sure is an accurate characterisation, notwithstanding the different political allegiance she had in her youth.
But in one particular way the article has just improved tremendously, because the graphic box at the top now displays the fact that Alba for the first time have representation at all three tiers of government – local councils, Holyrood and Westminster. Three days ago, it was only one. People who were looking forward to Alba’s demise will now have to start to accept that it isn’t going to happen any time soon. Of course they’ll continue making the point that none of Alba’s representatives were elected under Alba colours, and that’s a hurdle the party will have to get over sooner or later, but what all of this has done is buy Alba some time. Ash Regan will be in office until at least 2026, and Chris Cullen will be there until 2027.
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What puzzles me about Lorna Slater’s now-notorious comment about independence not being a red line for any deal between the Greens and Labour is the vehemence with which she said “absolutely not”. Why not “never say never” or “who knows what might happen”? It’s like she thinks it’s still pre-indyref days when Green supporters used to actively reward their leaders for blasting the presumptuousness of anyone who thought the SNP should be regarded as the only game in town due to independence. I remember James Mackenzie back in the early 2010s openly preaching the gospel of equidistance between the SNP and Labour, and not running into any trouble for it. But the world has moved on – many, many Green supporters see their party as every bit as much an independence party, every bit as much a vehicle-for-delivering-independence, as the SNP itself. To hear such enthusiastic talk about parking independence for five years to install a Labour government is going to make some supporters wonder if their perception of what the Greens are quite matches the reality.
