Alex Salmond’s Alba Party will question whether or not an independent Scotland should ditch the monarchy during its first ever party conference.
At the conference party members will hold a debate on having an elected head of state or a president, similar to how things work in the Republic of Ireland, instead of the queen after Scottish independence.
This stance on the monarchy from the Alba Party is a move away from the SNP’s policy in the 2014 independence white paper, which says the monarchy should continue after independence.
Conference to focus on independence
This is just one of 20 motions Alba will discuss at its inaugural party conference, which is due to take place on September 11 and 12 at Greenock Town Hall.
This is the same weekend as the SNP’s virtual party conference.
Another big topic for the weekend will be a motion on independence, which will be brought forward by Kenny MacAskill MP.
This will look at pushing the Scottish Government to start “urgent” negotiations with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to achieve independence, and look at what actions should be taken if he refuses.
The party will also say an independence convention should be called after the local council elections in May 2022, which would ask all elected representatives across Scotland to coordinate the independence campaign.
After Alba failed to win any seats in the Scottish Parliament election in May, Mr Salmond said the party was going to focus on next year’s council elections instead.
The party also announced this week it would look to remove nuclear weapons from Scotland on day one of independence.
Agenda is “radical and progressive”
Other motions which will be discussed at the party conference include protecting women’s rights amid the ongoing row over the Gender Recognition Act, creating a new Ferries Scotland body and awarding the renewal of CalMac Ferries to Ferguson’s Shipyard in Port Glasgow, and joining the European Free Trade Association as soon as Holyrood gets the power to sign international treaties.
Members will also discuss protecting battlefields such as Culloden Battlefield from developers, extending coronavirus vaccinations to young people “as a matter of urgency”, abolishing council tax, increasing Scottish child payments to £40 a week for 400,000 children, giving £500 a year to every low income household, doubling education maintenance allowance, and offering free breakfasts and lunches to all school children.
Chris McEleny, Alba’s interim general secretary, said: “Our draft agenda sets out a radical and progressive programme to improve the lives of people in Scotland right now and pursue Scotland’s independence mandate with the urgency it requires.
“I am confident that our inaugural conference will set out that we have the people, the policies, and the plan for independence to take Scotland forward.”
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