Poll shows most voters who express a view want pro-indy parties to put forward a united slate of election candidates to win independence for ScotlandThe results of another question have been revealed from the new Find Out Now poll commissioned by the Alba Party. This time I haven't been emailed the datasets, so I can only tell you what's been published on the Alba website, although the tables will probably appear publicly on the Find Out Now website before too long. Of those respondents who "expressed a view", 53% think that pro-independence parties should put forward an agreed slate of candidates to seek a mandate to negotiate an independence settlement with the United Kingdom government. That figure will exclude Don't Knows and anyone who said they preferred not to answer the question, so we'll have to wait for the tables to see how big those two groups are.
Anybody rational would agree that the so-called "Scotland United" plan is the optimal one, but the snag is that we know the SNP and Green leaderships will never agree to it (barring a pre-election change in the SNP leadership, which admittedly is not impossible). So what concerns me is what Alba are planning to do once they accept the plan is ruled out due to Humza Yousaf's intransigence. Do they say "we'll be the grown-up in the room and avoid any risk of splitting the pro-indy vote in a crucial first-past-the-post election"? That would be the strategically wise thing to do, both in the interests of the independence cause and in the self-interest of the Alba Party. Brownie points would be earned with the Yes-supporting electorate that could prove to be very valuable on the Holyrood list vote in 2026. It would avoid Alba needlessly becoming the bogeyman Yousaf uses to escape the blame (or to attempt to escape the blame) for catastrophic seat losses, if the worst happens at the general election next year.
Or will Alba say to the SNP: "we tried to reach out to you and you've reacted with contempt, so to hell with you, we'll stand against you in a significant number of Westminster constituencies"? Lashing out in that way would be strategically foolish in my view, both for independence and for Alba. I genuinely don't know what the plan is, but you can guarantee the leadership will already privately know - Alex Salmond won't have put forward the 'Scotland United' idea without knowing exactly what it and its near-inevitable rejection is really preparing the ground for.
* * *
I launched the
Scot Goes Pop fundraiser for 2023 a few weeks ago, and the running total has now passed £1500. The target figure is £8500, however, so there's still quite some distance to travel. If you'd like to help Scot Goes Pop continue by making a donation, please click
HERE. Many thanks to everyone who has donated so far.
Source: Poll shows most voters who express a view want pro-indy parties to put forward a united slate of election candidates to win independence for Scotland (//)