Alba changes SNP status quo as party feels more ‘united’, insiders say

Alba has dominated the headlines and political debate in Scotland in the week since its launch with its calls for an independence “supermajority” in Holyrood and appeal to Yes voters to back it on May 6.

“It’s cart-before-the-horse kind of stuff,” said one SNP candidate. “What do they stand for? I’m not saying that maliciously, I don’t know what they stand for apart from a supermajority, and no-one really knows what that means. How do you define that?”

A poll for publisher DC Thomson suggested the list-only party may attract 3% of the vote nationwide. The SNP polled at 37% on the list and 49% for the constituency contest in the same research.

“If you’d asked me before the candidate deadline about people moving over, I’d have questioned their judgement,” a high-ranking activist said. “But I was waiting for polling and now we’ve got it I would still question their judgement.”

Alba predicts its support “can only grow” as polling day nears and says it has admitted more than 4000 members. They include a raft of former SNP figures – Kenny MacAskill, Neale Hanvey, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, George Kerevan and Corri Wilson have all gone over.

Some of these departures, it is said, have left “a sense of anger” in their wake. “Kenny has done what he’s done, we have to move on,” said an East Lothian source.

“We lost 10-12 members of a membership of about 1300 in the constituency association but we gained about 20 – more people than we lost. Our crowdfunder has gone up, there’s an air of determination. It’s not ‘let’s stop Alba’, it’s ‘let’s win this seat’. It’s galvanised members.”

But despite these big-name signings, and the addition of people from other backgrounds like former socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan and boxing champ Alex Arthur – who has already had to apologise for Twitter posts – there’s scepticism that Alba is making a dent beyond the political bubble.

“Sometimes I think they’re going to get one in every region, then I think this is going to be another Rise,” one SNP politician said.

“My mates only pay attention to politics because of me, but they’re not into it and they’re on the group chat asking ‘Alex Salmond’s party, who are they, what are they called?’. It’s not cutting through.”

“People can get caught up in their own wee political world,” said another. “It’s Joe Public that makes the difference. That’s who you have to reach.”

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Many of the defectors – including councillors Caroline McAllister and Lynne Anderson – have openly criticised SNP policy, process and leadership. Much of that has related to the proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).

It’s an issue that’s led to a number of very public rows between SNP members in the past couple of years and one that has become, one source said, a “fault line” in the party.

“We’ve had nothing from constituents about [the] GRA,” an MSP candidate said. “It’s not what people are talking about. Our branch was seen as ‘difficult’ at one time, but I was telling people it was just certain people. Many of them have now joined Alba.

“You don’t want to be losing people but the party probably will be more united as a result.”

A high-ranking activist has accused Alba of “cynically” using women to present itself as a women’s party. “A lot of people have concerns about the issues or the way it’s handled,” she said.

“There’s recognition of that amongst people I’ve spoken to, branch conveners, who realise this is something members are really concerned about.

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“I’m not sure how the party intends to handle it. We need to make an effort to have more dialogue and take the heat out of it.

“There are other issues in the party like currency that are also contentious but people feel like they’ve been involved in that discussion.”

Announcing their move, Kerevan and Craig Berry, the founder of the left-leaning SNP Common Weal Group to which Kerevan also belonged, criticised internal democracy in the party, saying “elected representatives of the party rank and file have been denied their legitimate voice”.

The SNP has to “get back to ‘team, record, vision’ as it was in 2011,” a councillor added.

“It needs to be restructured. The party has grown considerably, we have to serve the membership. They have to feel their views are being taken into consideration.”

“Alba are a divided party too,” said one SNP source. “The people joining all have their own policy area they’re focusing on. We need to wait and see the policies they come up with.”

“Some of our members thought Alba was a blank slate to work on left-wing policy,” said an SNP Common Weal Group member. “Our view is it’s just a blank slate. I am fascinated to see if they have any concrete policies. Most of the people working to change things within the SNP are still in the SNP doing that work.”