THE Alba Party has said it will do the “heavy policy lifting” on independence after party members backed the adoption of a new currency “as soon as possible” after a Yes result in indyref2.
Alex Salmond’s party was in Dunfermline yesterday for its national council.
Delegates voted for a new currency after independence, and research on “the practicalities of the currency transition and the institutional preparations required to facilitate the move” will now be commissioned.
Deputy leader Kenny MacAskill MP said: “An independent Scotland needs all of the monetary and fiscal levers to manage our economy and to steer a different course from the failed austerity agenda of Westminster.
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“A separate Scottish currency is essential if we are to steer that course.”
He went on: “Alba is doing the heavy policy lifting when it comes to the key issues on which any future independence referendum will be decided.”
MacAskill called the currency question “vital”, adding: “Alba is rising to the challenge of addressing these questions.
READ MORE: Joanna Cherry meets Alex Salmond and calls for SNP to work with Alba on independence
“Alba is a democratic political party where policy is decided by the grassroots rather than handed down from on high. In Alba, the membership are sovereign rather than being seen purely as voting fodder as is the case with other parties.”
Meanwhile, the delegates also backed a push to stand council candidates across Scotland next spring. The plan includes the provision that every Alba councillor will support an independence convention made up of “all elected representatives at parliamentary and local authority level which will call on the Scottish Government to exercise the existing mandates for independence to initiate independence negotiations with Westminster”.
Other resolutions adopted include a new rail strategy aimed at lowering ticket costs and carbon emissions, plus another condemning the UK Government’s decision against pursuing carbon capture technology in Scotland.
Speaking about the council elections strategy, Alba’s local government convenor Councillor Leigh Wilson said: “Each elected Alba councillor will campaign for Alba’s five-point plan to combat family and child poverty and stand up for women’s sex-based rights as set out in the Equality Act.”
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