FOR a long while I was of the opinion that nothing very much would be changed by this Holyrood election. The SNP (in company with the Greens) were likely to command another majority. Nicola Sturgeon would go on as First Minister; probably clock up a decade in office in 2024; then retire into global NGO heaven. Westminster would continue to resist a Section 30 order and 2026 would eventually loom as another election year with the constitutional status quo frozen in aspic.

Yet suddenly I’ve changed my mind. True, I still think much of the political rhetoric of this election is a long-playing gramophone record (for those of you who remember such things). The playlist of this contest is a repeat – almost word for word – of 2016. The FM is offering a catalogue of mini-reforms (free dental health if you’re under 26) and soundbite promises (eg a miniscule £10 million to let firms “pilot” a four-day week).

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories talk about nothing else but the threat of a second referendum – ironically insisting that such a referendum is a diversion from tackling other issues. The only minor difference in the Conservative script is that Douglas Ross is a gaffe-prone, media nonentity compared with Baroness Davidson.

Fortunately, something fresh has intruded itself into the Sleepy Hollow of Scottish politics – the Alba Party. Let me be the first to say that new political parties are fissile material. If Alba win no seats in May, their future is tenuous. However, Alba have one thing going for them: they have the potential to disrupt the frozen sterility of contemporary party politics in Scotland. Alba could be the game-changers. In which case, all bets are off. For good or ill, the Scottish political and media establishment have failed singularly to understand the Alba phenomena. First impressions have mostly characterised the new party as merely a vehicle for the bruised ego of Alex Salmond.

Which hardly explains why Alba already has a bigger membership than the Scottish LibDems. Significant numbers of SNP branch and constituency leaderships have crossed over to Alba. The new party represents a genuine split in the traditional nationalist camp – not a vanity project by Alex Salmond.

READ MORE: Mike Small: Tory corruption has become the air we breathe

The line of this divide is over the strategy for achieving independence. The SNP have teased and teased regarding a second independence referendum. Witness the highly implausible claim by Westminster leader Ian Blackford that there could be a referendum this (pandemic) year.

Behind this political tease, the SNP leadership has devoted its organisational talents to suppressing internal party debate regarding any alternative plan for securing independence other than through a Westminster Section 30 order.

It is frustration with this lack of internal SNP democracy – and with the lack of a plan B – that has led to the creation of Alba. Whatever issues surround Salmond’s fitness for office, they do not erase the central cause of the split in the SNP.

Some have rushed to denounce Alba as a clone of European right-wing populist movements – a patently silly charge given the preponderance of old-time social democrats (Salmond himself, Kenny MacAskill MP); long-standing anti-capitalists (myself, former Labour MEP Hugh Kerr; former Socialist Worker journo Laurie Flynn); former members of the SNP Socialists group (Corrie Wilson); and SNP Common Weal supporters (Craig Berry).

I can hear retorts from the back of the hall: a few lefty names do not define the political direction of a party. And the adherence of a few ancient Trots suggests Alba is a party obsessed with old-fashioned, “productionist” economics. OK, I own up to thinking economics is important, because that is where social power resides. Which is another reason why Alba are a political game-changer.

Both myself and many others have joined Alba in opposition to the SNP leadership’s support for Andrew Wilson’s Growth Commission report. In a Channel 4 interview last week, the FM re-affirmed her support for the general line of the Growth Commission’s economic strategy, while admitting “the numbers” have to be refreshed.

​READ MORE: Stuart Cosgrove: Scotland can do better than naked self-interest of Tory spivs

THIS report was written by a corporate lobbyist. It commits an independent Scotland to trebling GDP growth – a target that flies in the face of achieving zero-carbon targets. It also commits Scotland to keeping sterling for at least a decade in order to pacify the London banks who now have a stranglehold over the Scottish economy.

On Saturday, Alex Salmond announced that Alba would demand the introduction of a Scottish currency as soon as possible after independence. Given the inadequate state of monetary preparedness bequeathed by an SNP Government wedded to the Growth Commission scenario, creating a new Scottish currency might take a few years. But it would certainly be possible to introduce a parallel Scots currency for public budget and business tax arrangements almost immediately. Anyone wanting a Scottish currency should vote Alba.

Alba has also been accused of being anti-woman, homophobic and transphobic. This is a peculiar criticism given that the majority of Alba candidates are female – something that cannot be said of the SNP. Equally, I think that debating identity politics via the Twitter-sphere has hardly led to clarity on any side. However, the recent Alba women’s conference – attended by more than 400 female activists – issued a sober statement of where the party actually stands.

While defending hard-won, sex-based rights (but “not at any expense to others”), the declaration “acknowledges and promotes” all of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, including gender reassignment.

It recognises “the pain” caused to everyone which has characterised recent debates on trans rights. It calls for a Citizens’ Assembly “on how best to reform the gender recognition process” in a positive fashion. And it finishes by acknowledging that no single protected characteristic is more virtuous or more worthy of recognition than another. What’s to disagree with?

Alba is the political disrupter in this election. I plead guilty to wanting independence to eradicate poverty in my native country. I want the land under my feet to be owned by the folk who live here. I am not a gradualist, and I won’t wait on Boris Johnson’s permission to seek independence.

Which is why Alba’s strategy is to declare the vote on May 6 as a plebiscite election. If we achieve a supermajority, that will be a mandate for the Scottish Parliament – not just the SNP – to demand the opening of independence negotiations. If Westminster refuses, then the Scottish Parliament will be free to pursue whatever peaceful tactics necessary to mobilise Scotland.

​READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Holyrood is no match for sleaze and scandal of Westminster

Some have queried the notion of a “supermajority”, claiming it is either incoherent, or unnecessary as the SNP and Greens will command a sufficiency of seats and votes on their own. Alba begs to differ.

The revolutionary politics here is mobilising the nation behind the banner of the elected Scottish Parliament – not relying on a single political party or leader to champion independence. In this context, a supermajority means winning the maximum possible seats represented by supporters of Scotland’s political freedom. We want more than an arithmetic majority – we want as many seats as can be attained, in order to arouse the Scottish nation.

Time will tell if Alba can break the mould of Scottish politics. But break that mould we must.