Chris McEleny says “I think that’s what people are sick of in politics, the entitlement.“. I think Chris will find that people are just as sick of the hypocrisy. The entitlement to which he refers is nowhere more evident than in Alba Party’s attitude to elections and voters. Alongside the fantastical nonsense about a ‘supermajority’, the most notable thing about Alba Party’s 2021 election campaign was the impression they gave of thinking themselves entitled to the votes of independence supporters and entitled to cooperation from the SNP. They did not ask for votes on the basis of some valid and distinctive proposal to advance Scotland’s cause. They demanded that people vote for them and that the SNP assist them on the basis of nothing more than that ‘supermajority’ piffle and the fact that they were not the SNP.
Let’s be clear. Most if not all that Alba Party and its supporters said about the failings and failures of the SNP – setting aside the mindless abuse – was true. But ask anything at all about what Alba might offer that was better and all you would get by way of response was an endless repetition of the litany of complaints against the SNP. As well as the ‘special’ arithmetic which was required to make the ‘supermajority’ seem feasible we got the ‘special’ logic which goes “The SNP is bad, Alba Party is not the SNP. Therefore Alba Party is good.”.
With such ‘special’ logic it was inevitable that Alba Party could only be made to look better by making the SNP look worse. Hence, the Alba Party campaign was bound to become an anti-SNP campaign even if that was never the intention. To which a typical Alba Party supporter – oblivious to the irony – would respond by pointing to the abuse directed at Alba Party by some SNP supporters.
Let’s face it! Alba Party fought an appalling campaign last year. And it appears to have learned nothing from past mistakes. We still see the same sense of entitlement as evidenced by the spluttering outrage that the SNP is mounting its own campaign for its own candidates and not giving Alba Party a boost. Anybody who questioned the claims made by Alba Party in the Holyrood election campaign was told they were too stupid to understand the voting system. Anybody who questions Alba Party’s claims in the coming local elections will be similarly told they are too stupid to understand how the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) works.
Alba Party still comes across as claiming to be entitled to the votes of independence supporters and an extraordinary form of cooperation from other pro-independence parties solely on the basis of it being a pro-independence party that is not the SNP. Other than that, there is only the claim that – unlike the SNP – they would treat the issue of restoring Scotland’s independence with an appropriate sense of urgency. A claim that is meaningless mainly because the Alba Party is not in a position to do anything and is very unlikely to be so within any sort of realistic time frame. But the claim is also meaningless because when you look at the ‘small print’ Alba Party’s approach to the constitutional issue is little different and no better than what we get from the SNP.
Alba Party has failed to make itself distinctive enough to grab the attention and/or win the votes of SNP-voting independence supporters. A fact that itself represents an incomprehensible failure by the party’s leadership. The one big advantage that Alba Party has over the SNP is that it is not about to be in government or have any measurable influence over the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government’s approach to the constitutional issue. It is in a position similar to small opposition parties in that it can afford to make bold statements safe in the knowledge that it will not soon be in a situation where it might be expected to stand by those statements.
The field is wide open for Alba Party to win votes by being distinctive. The simple act of repudiating the Section 30 process would clearly set it apart from the SNP. As would campaigning to ensure that the referendum promised for 2023 is a genuine and conclusive exercise of our right of self-determination.
Fantasy politics and monumental entitlement is not going to get Alba Party into double figures never mind into elected office.
If you find these articles interesting please consider a small donation to help support this site and my other activities on behalf of Scotland’s cause.
Peter A Bell 
Don’t get me started on the Wee Alba book! It is an absolute travesty in every possible way. As you know I am 100% for Scottish independence and this is an embarrassment, we have learned nothing. It is like the Watchtower. Have you heard the good news about Jesus? There is no NEW cause for independence. I am off to bang my head against the wall for a bit……..
LikeLiked by 2 people
There’s a queue at that wall.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Wee Alba book is a handbook. If at 100% for Scottish independence you may not need it. Keep it for reference.
LikeLike
A handbook for what? It says nothing about the process by which independence is restored. I could get as much from the SNP.
LikeLike
Yeah- sure- but what can realistically be done about new SNP?
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is obvious. If you’re inclined to think about it. Just ask yourself what is the one thing which might have happened prior to the 2021 election which might have made a difference. Bearing in mind, as always, that there is no such thing as magic.
LikeLike
Catch-22, was a satirical war novel describing events from the points of view of different characters… however, Scotland’s political situation is a peaceful form of dispute, but STILL touches on ‘the points of view of different characters’… differing situations, yet “Catch-22” comes to mind?
LikeLike
Catch-22 – you are not insane if you seek self preservation.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Alba is a grassroots party and is only a year old!
Its platform is an Independent Scotland and the restoration of that.
The Super Majority was and is a very good, appropriate action.
Alba recognises that the SNP has a major part to play in the Yes movement, which has to be united.
Alba still struggles to get MSM coverage – so it needs all the space it can get – even from you!
LikeLiked by 2 people
FFS! The ‘supermajority’ thing was and remains total shite. If it wasn’t then somebody from Alba might have refuted the points I made over a year ago. Let go of the fantasy and stop blaming everyone and everything else for Alba’s failures and failings. You’re sounding like British Labour in Scotland.
LikeLike
Insomuch as a supermajority makes sense only if voters for other independence parties come together and the separate parties pledge that they will consider votes for all of them as independence votes and sanction the ruling independence party to use them for the purpose of attaining independence. The moment the SNP refused to do that, it was doomed. The other point is that is all independence voters voted for the SNP, would they necessarily take those votes and use them to regain our independence? I fear not. The composition of the party, full of foot-draggers, devolutionists and wokerati precludes any such actions. Nicola Sturgeon will never concede power to Alec Salmond. It is to our eternal regret that he conceded power to her, and granted her a coronation, in 2014. I do believe, though, that she knows her days are numbered, and is hellbent on destroying Scotland’s social fabric far more finally than Westminster ever could.
LikeLiked by 7 people
The ‘supermajority’ nonsense was always doomed because the SNP was never going to have anything to do with it. Why would they? The whole thing was an unworkable fantasy. Alba fought a campaign that totally relied on another party behaving in a way that this other party would not and could not. Why would anybody take them seriously?
There is only one relevant thing to be said about the SNP. It is the party of government.
LikeLike
Unless ‘supermajority’ is defined, ‘supermajority’ is just a meaningless word, presumably designed for consumption by people susceptible to meaningless words. That’s before you get onto the unworkable idea of a Holyrood election where all partys only campaign on one single subject.
LikeLike
The term supermajority is NOT “just a meaningless word”. It is a term well-understood by anyone who knows anything about democratic politics. It has a place in the procedural rules of most if not all parliaments. Commonly, it is defined as two-thirds of those entitled to vote. Although the specifics may vary.
For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, a super-majority is defined in Section 11 of the Scotland Act (2016).
The problem with the term supermajority as used by Alba is that it refers to something which is as close to being impossible as makes no difference for any practical purposes. As you would be aware had you troubled to read the articles to which I have referred repeatedly in this context.
LikeLike
Why would they?
Because Scotland is bigger than any one party? Than any one individual? If it isn’t, then we might as well resign ourselves to Unionism. The Tories are the only party at Holyrood that is actively debating women’s rights and the GRA reform. The rest are ticking the boxes for validation of sexual fetish which women and girls have been ‘volunteered’, army-style to shoulder the burden of. This is what the SNP has created. I now have two very powerful reasons to actively resist their ‘government’.
LikeLiked by 6 people
Here we go again!
Only the Scottish Parliament can restore Scotland’s independence.
Only the Scottish Government can initiate the process by which the Scottish Parliament restores Scotland’s independence.
Only the SNP is the party of government.,
Only the SNP can possibly be the party of government within the relevant timeframe.
For those committed to the restoration of Scotland’s independence these points trump anything that might be said about the SNP or its leadership or its policies. If you give up on the SNP you inevitably give up on independence no matter how fervently you may deny it. The logic is unavoidable and irrefutable.
I am no apologist for the SNP. Nobody who has read anything I’ve written over the past couple of years can be in any doubt about that. I am, however, a huge fan of maintaining a grip on the political reality of our predicament.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Peter, you left out the most relevant “Only the SNP” statement,
Only the SNP being the party of government, can block any progress towards independence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One day you’ll surprise us all by telling us something about Alba rather than rehashing old drivel about the SNP. If that’s how you campaign ‘on the doorsteps’ then it’s no wonder your party isn’t making much of an impression.
VOTER: What is Alba’s proposal for restoring Scotland’s independence?
GEOFF: The SNP has done nothing for nearly eight years.
VOTER: Yes. I know that. But tell me about Alba.
GEOFF: The SNP blaaahhh!
VOTER: You had your chance. [Slams door]
LikeLiked by 1 person
Potentially we have the question of a restoration of the Convention of the Estates doing its Constitutional function of protecting the Sovereignty of the people and censuring the Scottish Parliament.
LikeLike
Explain the process.
LikeLike
Slightly off-topic but I have a subscription to the Torygraph (it’s always good to keep up with the opposition) and commented this BTL on an N.I protocol article – they really are as delusional as we all thought:
Steve Wilkinson
1 HR AGO
I despair when I read the oft used phrase that walking away from the protocol would break international law.
The protocol is an agreement between two parties and that agreement was reached in good faith.
However , IT CLEARLY DOESN’T WORK, and one of the parties is no longer happy with the arrangement.
In any other agreement between two parties, If one is unhappy with the arrangement, it can be terminated.
End of story!
REPLY
4 REPLIES
9
FLAG
GC
Gordon Currie
37 MIN AGO
Reply to Steve Wilkinson
Message Actions
Just like the Treaty of the Union in 1707 then?
REPLY
0
RG
Robert Gould
17 MIN AGO
Reply to Steve Wilkinson
Gordon Currie…I concur with that point. Give the whole UK a referendum on the continuance of the Treaty of Union 1707 EDITED
REPLY
1
FLAG
GC
Gordon Currie
7 MIN AGO
Reply to Steve Wilkinson
Message Actions
I always maintained that England should have withdrawn from the 1707 Treaty leaving the Scots as the successor state (bearing in mind there were only 2 signatories) – we would then no longer have been a member of the EU. Quick, clean and simple.
REPLY
0
RG
Robert Gould
2 MIN AGO
Reply to Steve Wilkinson – view message
Tail wagging the dog. The Treaty came about because Scotland needed it because it had bankrupted itself. Strange how history has a habit of repeating itself.
REPLY
0
Hubris isn’t restricted to the Westminster comedy club!
LikeLiked by 1 person
(WordPress lost it again on my old XP / old Firefox once I’d signed in)
From the quite limited bumph we’ve received at my house from some of the candidates / parties, by far the best, absolutely no comparison, is from the Independent who was active in the community council before being elected last elections. A big list of things he’s tackled, and I’ve no reason to doubt it. He also supports Indy by the way. A good guy, a serious guy, a hard worker.
So – do I put the SNP 1st, also a good active councillor, and SNP 2nd, which would be a new unknown councillor, and one of the Tories last, a councilor who is also very good locally, and has been for years? Don’t know anything about the Alba candidate, and not impressed by the ISP. Green is a good guy, but like most people I can’t afford to save the planet and die of starvation or hypothermia.
To be perfectly honest, i’m turning against the idea that local elections, to elect councillors for the council, should be about the dreaded Tories, power bills which the council can do nothing about, or Independence which is national not local government.
And you can bet your bottom dollar, that if I’m thinking more and more local about, well, duh, local, most other people are as well.
LikeLike