Regrettably I move ever closer to tearing up my Alba founder member card.
I know nothing about what is going on because nobody is telling the membership what is going on.
I do know that certain positions in the Party do not require election…..how can that be?
I do know that I did not get to vote in key areas because I did not travel to conference. I do not know who or why that what decided.
I joined Alba because I support Independence and consider the People of Scotland to be Sovereign unlike the SNP who I left. Do Alba think some people are more equal than others?
From my remote and unimportant position of mere member I have great concern when good people, well respected people, resign and leave the Party.
I do not know what is going on. However it is obvious from X (Twitter) that opposing cliques do have knowledge given the rock throwing antics.
I wasted years sticking with the SNP hoping to change it from the inside. I will not make that mistake again.
The leadership role is not to watch members and ex-members rolling about on the ground trying to land blows. They should have stepped in and ended this.
What I can see is Chris McEleny acting as a bully trying to intimidate and silence people. Those who resigned or left Alba are my fellow travellers. I want to hear what happened.
I am a member of the Alba Party. If my role is to be silent and pay my fee you are going to lose my support and my money.
I will give it one more month before I cancel my membership. It will not be because of what happened. It will be because of the coverup to what happened.
I have absolutely no problem sticking with Alba. You are going to get misunderstandings and also bad actions and everything in between. The party is just getting going and it is still filled with good people. My criticisms are more along the line of a lack of interest in popular sovereignty and a lack of respect for SALVO from some in the party. That said people are completely free to decide what they think is important and I just take note for future reference with regard to those putting themselves forward for elections.
It is so sad that a relatively new political party has already come to the point where questions of integrity, honesty, fairness, equality and underhand dealings are being asked.. However, if the members of Alba (I am no longer a member following the AGM) cannot have full confidence and `transparency in everything done in their name, it is heading for the rocks.
I make no judgement because without full knowledge and transparency it is difficult to do so. However, Party Leaders, committees and officials must remember that the party belongs to the members and not them. We witnessed the SNP collapsing membership that is still taking place for very similar reasons and the Movement does not want or need to go through that chaotic situation all over again.
I am old enough to remember the factions that sprung up in the late 1970s , early 1980s SNP that caused such divisiveness. The Movement is already fragmented when we need to come together to realise our goal. We hear of ‘unity’ between parties and groups but it is vitally important that unity exists within those parties and groups.
This ALBA PARTY info letter dated 18 Dec 2023 addresses issues raised –
————
Dear….
This is a time for looking back and looking forward.
As we look back on 2023, by far the most important development was the “October Surprise” which saw Ash Regan MSP joining ALBA. Its importance cannot be overstated. It means that ALBA are now represented at every level of government in Scotland and our work has stepped up a gear and that is the work of moving the country forward.
Ash’s St Andrew’s Day Referendum Bill on the powers of the Parliament, offers the opportunity to break through the constitutional log jam once and for all and force the pace on independence – you can see the details on this edition of Scotland Speaks.
Combined with our determination to seek an independence mandate at each and every election, ALBA has the keys to unlock the independence door. And the most important thing is that these initiatives are made in Scotland – no more cap in hand to London Government or London courts for advice on Scotland’s future.
After the folly of the ill-fated venture to the Supreme Court, we held two meetings with the broader YES movement and promised to return when we had fully formulated a winning strategy. That is what we have now done and that meeting will take place on the afternoon of January 27th in Edinburgh. It is a crucial meeting to which all ALBA members and Yessers are invited. Please register here.
Our Party is growing and with that growth can come growing pains.
Our internal elections are a case in point. For the first time we had intense competition for executive positions in the party. That was a good thing of course but brought with it a problem or two.
Firstly we had to re-run the office-bearer elections amid widespread rumours that something was amiss with the voting system. In the event, an investigation demonstrated that there was nothing at all wrong, merely the amplification of rumour through social media – some of that was innocent, some I fear not. All of it was irresponsible.
When we moved to the NEC elections we found a different problem. STV is a hard taskmaster in a heavily contested election and can result in people getting very few, if any, first preferences, even people who have legitimate ambitions to be parliamentary candidates. That does not mean they do not have a body of support (they might have lots of preference votes that never came into play), but certainly could be used against them in a real election campaign. We also had not taken the precaution of securing individual candidate agreement to the release of their election data and we still do not have that consent. In the case of the Office Bearer elections which are conducted by One Member One Vote (OMOV), we do have that consent and the full results as given to National Council are detailed here.
The decision was taken to publish the duly elected NEC candidates but not the full data tables and instead make the complete information on their own performance available to each candidate on request. That’s not ideal but it is sensible.
Much more importantly we can cure the problem, moving forward. Starting with the elections at National Council in January 2024, the NEC has decided that a condition of standing for internal office will be to give prior agreement to have the full election tables published. That will be confirmed on the same form that members sign to be candidates. It is also the case that the Party this year as part of the constitutional review will have the option, if it so wishes, of moving to OMOV for the National Executive elections.
I read regularly that people do not wish ALBA to turn into the SNP. That is an admirable objective shared by everyone. But remember two things. One is that no-one on this earth has more reason to be resentful of the “new” SNP than I have and secondly, I ran the SNP for twenty years without a scintilla of the difficulties that have recently engulfed it. Indeed the current ALBA constitution is modelled (with our National Councils and Assemblies) on that of the SNP when it was a decent political party and before democracy and accountability were removed from its constitution.
In the meantime, as we move forward to providing more information on internal elections, all members can be secure in the knowledge that I am fully satisfied that all our elections have been properly conducted according to our constitution and rules.
So we now enter 2024 with opportunity before us. We have determined to fight a minimum of 12 seats at the General Election building our organisational capacity for our key test in the Scottish elections of 2026.
For ALBA, politics as we enter the New Year has now become serious and all grown up. We are not a debating society or a club, nor should we define ourselves just as opponents of the daft policies of the SNP/Green Government.
We define ourselves as a party with a radical programme to promote economic progress and social justice throughout Scotland and to see our country make an enlightened contribution to the world.
Above all, we are the only Party with a viable political strategy to achieve independence. We are the last best hope for independence in our generation. That is a heavy responsibility but also an honour which should be embraced by every ALBA member.
Can I take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Happy Christmas and a Guid New Year.
Yours for ALBA,
Alex Salmond
I too emailed the party twice enquiring about the results of the election for ordinary members of the NEC and of course apart from the automated reply saying they would be in touch within 7 days, of course they didn’t. It’s exactly like it was trying to contact McCann in the SNP and just as disappointing.
I often criticise the SNP and other parties on many things, especially anything that is seen as pulling the wool over the eyes of the members, I had more than enough of that latterly in the SNP of which I had been a member for nearly 50 years. I too am a founder member of Alba, joining on day one.
Alba’s refusal to give out the voting figures has obviously led to great concern, and the excuses given are worse than ludicrous. It is simply not worth it for the vanity of one or two people, especially if most members perceive their election as flawed, it has no authority.
Jumping to conclusions is not the best of exercises, but most Alba members will have done that for exactly the same reason and anyone involved knows exactly what I am talking about.
Any embarrassment about low numbers would have been forgotten long ago. What will never be forgotten is the lack of transparency and covering up of the results. Even Alex’ excuse that “some people win positions who were not the first choice” made it all the more obvious that at least one person was.
Publish the results – at least to members who voted, in actual numbers, not just %, in full and at each stage of the count to either lay this to rest, or I would expect at least one resignation from the NEC and / or a rerun of the election. Not next year, but now.
The whole thing leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth, and much as I admire Alex, I will not accept an “It’s fine, nothing to worry about” from him or anyone else.
Those days are long gone.
Bill Cowan / Bill Dunblane – Former Alba local Council candidate
Blackford is a member of the British American Parliamentary Group. The BAPG are uniquely and mysteriously exempt from declaring gratuities from the State Of in their HoC Register of interests. Blackford may have been on an all expenses paid trip to the States as part of the State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Program, the point being, we don’t know because he wouldn’t have to declare it. This distinction applies to Angela Crawley and pederast Patrick Grady neither of whom declared their IVLP trip despite it occurring while Westminster was in session.
I don’t know what or where the path to independence is now but I do know it is not with the SNP.
To all the good guy and gal SNP folks left. Whatever it is that has seized control of the SNP and ruined it… their talons are in way too deep.
At thus point they are relying on your loyalty to the SNP to prolong their rule.
You need to burn the house down.
The independence movement has to go post-SNP. Or there is no independence movement.
This just proves a few points:
1. These people are not democrats and never were. No democrat can ever seek to be parachuted to that stain in a democracy. They are just crown tools waiting to receive their reward for their services to the crown.
2. They are not and never were nationalists. They are labour through and through. A real nationalist would feel revulsion at the idea of entering that chamber.
3. They never sought independence. What they sought was to stop it. They are wedded to the union and unionism to their very core.
The stupid claim that Scotland needs nationalist representation in the HoL is absolute bullshit and a pathetic excuse. What it needs is the union ended.
A real nationalist would never seek to join that relic of the past whose main purpose is to prop up the crown and the layer of privilege hanging underneath.
If he found ungluing his deceiving arse from the green seats challenging, then lifting his arse from the red seats is going to be impossible.
If as SNP leader in Westminster he could/would not do anything to deliver independence, then what the hell is he going to achieve in a bloated HoL whose very existence relies on Scotland remaining in the union?
If something is clear is that all political rejects who enter the HoLs do not do it “to settle up”. They do it to settle their arse comfortably down and, for as long as they can, continue to suck from the taxpayers’ purse teat. Independence will disappear permanently from his mind.
I wonder what other members of Sturgeon’s praetorian guard will be also rewarded with a red seat. Who will be the next joining him, Black, Russell, Grady, Smith or Slippers?
I do not know what other shock this fake SNP can bring out of the hat to make themselves even more unelectable. By now we got their message is loud and clear: they want to lose the GE.
I’m old enough to have seen guys who had arms and legs blown off in some conflict in far distant places.
They had their trouser leg tied up or their jacket sleeve pinned to stop the things flapping around.
My grandmothers brother never returned from ww1 and his name is on a memorial which none of the family have ever seen.
Oh, but they got a memorial death plaque made of copper. Big deal for a life lost.
Coincidentally I was watching this earlier on the dire state of the British Armed forces.
Turns out all the immigrants don’t want to join and going woke (i.e. anti-white) is not a great recruitment driver for white people. London for example is 13% of the population but only contributes 3% to recruits. Lots of interesting data in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlTGBGPOblc&ab_channel=HistoryLegends
One thing that occurred to me watching it, is that we spend a lot of time focussing on the treatment of Scotland and Scots by the people running the UK on this website (and rightfully so) but when I look at the way they treat indigenous white English people it is very obvious they despise them, just as much as us.
This is actually true now of all (far) Western countries it seems. ‘Our leaders’ are seemingly doing everything they can to degrade, destroy and replace us. We have been occupied.
Get ready for conscription.
Just like they sent a generation of young Ukr@inians to their deaths for nothing do you really think you will be immune to it if it comes. They have units there sitting behind the front lines to shoot anyone who tries to retreat. Press gangs are grabbing old men from bus stops. I forget what the age limit is now as they keep raising it. They are also sending women to the front as well. Rus$ians making videos find trenches full of dead Ukr@inian women.
Boris Johnson is coated in their blood from head to foot, bathed in it.
Ok, so I’m a day early, but the behaviour of Blackford & Co. ensure that this verse remains as relevant today as when first penned some 233 years ago…
What force or guile could not subdue,
Thro’ many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling ("Tractor" - Ed)’s wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour’s station;
But English gold has been our bane –
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
100%Yes @ 9.09am
How very dare you suggest such a parliamentary giant as the Rt. Hon. Ian Blackford MP would accept as paltry an honour as a Knighthood. This honour sits far lower in the pecking order than such a giant of our times as Mr Blackford thinks he deserves.
No, I fear, nothing less than a Barony and a place in the House of Lords will suffice for Big Ian.
Mind you, although 40 years have passed since the last former Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, accepted the Earldom, which used to go as a matter of course to former PMs, I am sure Mrs Murrell deeply regrets this now seemingly abandoned custom does not extend to former First Minister of Scotland.
Her ego will surely demands she be made Countess of Dreghorn – although, at a push, she will surely accept being Baroness Sturgeon of Bourtreehill.
willie @ 2:54 pm
“But history repeats and one has to ask will Scotland in the event of another major conflagration send the number of our young to go and die in foreign fields. No doubt the establishment would like to repeat the trick.”
Aye Willie, since the Irish declared their independence Ireland has avoided around 100 military conflicts that England has dragged Scotland into, and no doubt more to come.
‘No’ voters should consider that independence is far more than maybe being a few quid better or worse off, its about our own people being able to decide for themselves critically important matters such as war and peace. Independence is about how ‘a people’ behave, what we do, how we carry ourselves in the world, and how the world views us and our country.
Scots should never again crave ‘serving’ as front line colonial fodder in support of England’s imperial delusions and corporate greed. Yet unthinking ‘No’ voters still put us on that path.
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