Former first minister Alex Salmond is making his own “declaration for Scotland” as he plots an immediate path to independence.
The address is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, on the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, when Scots nobles affirmed the country’s independence.
Mr Salmond, leader of the new Alba party, said: “On the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath I will set out Alba’s Declaration for Scotland and the clear route to independence – a strategy for immediate action by the Scots Parliament following the achievement of an independence supermajority.”
Polling research last week suggesting the party will struggle to get over the threshold to get into parliament, but Mr Salmond hopes the party will become better known and end up with representatives in all regions.
Mr Salmond is top of the list in the North East.
He said: “As our message cuts through, that only a list vote for Alba will deliver the independence supermajority to drive Scotland towards independence, so we will see more and more people rally to our cause.”
The party held its policy conference on Saturday, where candidates decided on proposals for the campaign and Mr Salmond’s address could lay out policy positions which branch away from its core mission of Scottish independence.
Mr Salmond repeatedly refused to answer questions on Alba’s policies on an independent Scotland’s relationship with the European Union, preferring to wait until the policies had been finalised by candidates.
Research by polling experts Survation last week suggested the party was on just 3%.
A poll for the Sunday Times pointed to an increase which might be enough for six seats in May’s election.
Both polls showed the SNP could still get a majority without help from Alba. The SNP were a minority party in 2016-21, but the pro-independence Greens gave them a majority on the constitution over that entire period.
Scottish solutions
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it’s time for political leaders to park the constant constitutional rows and talk about recovery.
Writing in the Daily Record, the former Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP added: “Devolution was designed to deliver Scottish solutions where there are Scottish problems but too often it has been reduced to a row between nationalists and unionists, which has taken us nowhere fast.”
However, the SNP’s Humza Yousaf said: “Independence is not a distraction from recovery, it is essential for the long-term recovery people in Scotland deserve and need.”