Even in her absence, Nicola Sturgeon dominated Iain Dale’s discussion with Alex Salmond and David Davis at the Edinburgh festival. Dale invited them both to comment on George Galloway’s suggestion that Sturgeon is ‘Mrs Thatcher in a kilt.’
Salmond flatly rejected this caricature. (Evidently he knows that criticising her in public will do him no favours.) Davis also dismissed the comparison. ‘Mrs Thatcher’s favourite pastime was arguing with people. Nicola wasn’t like that,’ he said, recalling the meetings he held with her during his term as Brexit secretary. ‘Nicola was very passive, very difficult to engage with. She adopted the image of a stern, domineering woman – which a lot of men like.’
Dale turned to the aftermath of her resignation which has seriously damaged the independence cause.
‘It’s tanking in the polls,’ he said. ‘And nothing’s going to change until the investigations are over.’
‘Tanking? That’s a bit strong,’ said Salmond. He quoted statistics offering a more upbeat view. Support for independence is remarkably steady at just below 50 per cent, he said, while the SNP’s ratings have slipped to 30 per cent. That’s significant because the contrary position held in 2011. Back then, the SNP were polling at 50 per cent while support for independence stood at 30 per cent. This volatility informs his strategy for Alba (founded by him in 2021) which has 8,000 members and is already Scotland’s third most popular party.
‘You’ve got more members than the Scottish Conservatives?’ asked Dale.
‘We surpassed the Conservatives very early in the process,’ said Salmond dryly.
In that case, asked Dale, why is Alba not profiting from the SNP’s decline?
Salmond pointed out that it takes decades for a new party to gain traction. The SNP was formed in 1934 but didn’t win a Westminster seat until 1967. Salmond’s great advantage is his record of leadership. ‘I managed to get a referendum in 2014 and I can contribute to doing that again.’
He outlined his plan for the next few years. His aim is to secure 25 MSPs (15 per cent of the chamber) at the 2026 Holyrood elections ‘and to form a key part of an independence coalition.’
Dale asked what advice he would offer to Humza Yousaf. Salmond said it was time to ditch the coalition with the Greens.
‘There’s no reason on earth why the SNP’s 64 MSPs can’t govern consistently and coherently.’ He criticised the Greens’ obsession with heat-pumps and ‘the bottle scheme’ which involves a 20p deposit on single-use containers which can be reclaimed when the bottle is returned.
‘The Greens have two ministers,’ said Salmond, ‘which is 10 per cent of the government but they’ve supplied a lot more than 10 per cent of the problems.’
And he denied that the SNP’s unpopularity was due to weak performances by the individuals in charge. Casting his eye south, he imagined how Scotland might have fared with different politicians. ‘If only we’d been led by someone with the competence of Liz Truss, the integrity of Boris Johnson or the decisiveness of Theresa May.’
Salmond sounded bullish about Scotland’s future as an energy-rich magnet for global investment. Membership of the EU is essential to his economic plans.
‘What idiot would locate a business in London, outside the EU, when they could locate it in Edinburgh, inside the EU?’
The North Sea will play a key role in Scotland’s prosperity but everything depends on the development of carbon-neutral technology.
‘Carbon capture has been done more effectively in the North Sea than anywhere else in the world. Sadly it’s all been done by the Norwegians.’
He predicts that offshore windfarms will be able to supply Scotland with five times more power than is needed domestically and the surplus can be sold abroad. Even better, it could be used to lure new industries to Scotland with the promise of cheap energy.
Finally, Dale steered the discussion back to the N-word.
‘Alec, I asked you last year if you could ever rebuild your relationship with Nicola Sturgeon, and I got a one-word answer: “Nope.”’
Salmond refused to be drawn. Dale tried again.
‘Imagine, many years from now, you’re in the SNP Care-Home For the Permanently Bewildered – and there she is. What would you say?’
Salmond: ‘I’d say, Nurse! You’re here at last.’
In the end Salmond relented. ‘You should never say never.’ He said it would be ‘sad’ if they never spoke again. ‘To be frank, I think Nicola’s got more immediate things to worry about.’
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