OPENING SPEECH TO CANDIDATE CONFERENCE.

ALBA IS YES MOVEMENT REBORN” – SALMOND

Scotland’s fastest growing political party ALBA will today (Saturday) host its first ever policy conference just one week after it’s official launch. The virtual conference will bring together ALBA’s 32 candidates from across Scotland. Alex Salmond will deliver a Keynote Speech on the pathway to an Independence Supermajority.  The conference will then go on to adopt a policy position paper on Women and Equality and discuss draft policy positions on the Economic Recovery from Covid and Education. 

In his keynote speech Alex Salmond, party leaders will state: 

“To sum up the week 

“I rather liked our founder Laurie Flynn’s statement of yesterday that in one single week we had surpassed the membership total of the Liberal Democrats who had been working at it, in various disguises, for 150 years.

“Our real achievement, however, has been to bring into place 32 candidates of talent and diversity the length and breadth of the country. Today we start to provide the policy framework to define our message.

“Arithmetically our argument for the independence #Supermajority is unassailable. More MSPs supporting independence -What’s not to like?

“Of course some people say they don’t but why should colleagues not want there to be a #Supermajority- why would they rather that the Indy numbers be lighter so that the unionists numbers can be heavier. 

“That is a ridiculous posturing for any independence supporter caused by the realisation that SNP votes on the regional list are the ultimate wasted votes.

“The reality is as follows:

“The cause of Scottish independence is beyond Party.

“It is proper to recognise that, for most of the century where Scottish self-government has been pursued on a political canvas, the heavy lifting has been done by the Scottish National Party. 

“However the cause of independence has never been the SNP’s sole preserve – they hold no arbitrary authority over it. 

“One thinks of the Scottish Covenant movement in the post war period

“And then there is the cross party, Claim of Right which the SNP participated in and the Scottish Constitutional Convention which the SNP did not. 

“Most importantly and most recently there was the broad-based YES campaign of the summer of 2014 which propelled the independence case forward in a fashion never achieved before. That was not the preserve of the SNP and if I would suggest one recent political movement which most resembles our new party I would say it was the YES campaign of summer of 2014 now reborn in political form in the ranks of ALBA.

“At today’s conference we engage in the policy debate to indicate the “Scotland We Seek”. The debates today on economic recovery from Covid, on education, on women and equality are the very life blood of a quality election campaign. 

“As our thinking comes forward on these matters and on the Constitution of an independent Scotland, on Scotland’s place in Europe and the world, and on the practical answers to hard questions on the currency, on borders and on the transition to freedom then Alba will make our mark on this election.

“The mainstream media tell us that the people don’t want to talk about independence. 

“They are wrong.

“Not only do people want to talk about it they want the assurance that the thinking has been done to provide the framework from which we can build an independent country. 

“That is what Alba will inject into this election and as we articulate these views with positivity, with clarity and with substance then we will make a substantial contribution to the noblest cause of all, the cause of the independence of our country”.

MY COMMENTS

It is from here that the campaigning gets started. Our candidates are selected, today will see the first key policies being determined. Regional groups will be in charge of the campaigning and campaign materials will start arriving from Wednesday onwards. This is going to be a short campaign, different from ever before but we must make ALBA as visible as possible. So that means a poster in the window, a car sticker on the car, helping out with street stalls when COVID permits. We are new, but we have heart, we have determination AND WE WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. FOR OUR PARTY AND FOR SCOTLAND!

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland

Support the Alba Crowdfunder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/AlbaParty