1.2.3 – Minor parties
It was announced on Sunday 8 March that Alba, a small pro-Scottish independence party previously led by Alex Salmond, would be wound down due to the dire financial position it found itself in.
The party was founded in 2021, with Alex Salmond – who had previously served as leader of the SNP and Scottish First Minister – becoming its leader. The party did not win any seats in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election or the 2024 UK General Election, although it did benefit from defections in both legislatures.
The party shares the SNP’s vision of independence for Scotland, although it is open about its preference for a republic (the SNP has remained ambiguous on this matter to avoid losing potential support from monarchists). The party also shared a comparable left-of-centre economic position to the SNP. It was in social policy, however, where Alba differentiated itself from the SNP most clearly, adopting a more socially conservative position than the one espoused by the SNP, which was widely characterised as socially progressive. This was most clearly seen in Alba’s opposition to the SNP-led Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in 2022, which was effectively vetoed by the Westminster Government under section 35 of the Scotland Act – the only time this power has been used since devolution occurred across the UK at the end of the twentieth century.
The decision to de-register the party with the Electoral Commission comes as a result of its financial position, largely coming as a result of its rapidly declining membership figures and the loss of income this entails. The leadership election to replace Salmond held in March 2025 indicated that the party had around 5,000 members, around 10% of the total enjoyed by the SNP.
Alba’s failure to force a breakthrough on the pro-independence side of Scottish politics gives an indication not just of the SNP’s dominance, but also raises questions about whether the party was ever more than a ‘one-man band’, similar to the situation with George Galloway and the Workers Party of Britain.