Former first minister Alex Salmond’s call for a joint pro-independence movement at the general election is being backed by Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil, days after he was expelled from the SNP.
Mr MacNeil said independence is the “real necessity” as he prepared to join his former senior colleague in Fraserburgh on Monday evening.
They are meeting as part of a wider event bringing together local independence campaigners.
Mr MacNeil now represents his constituents as an independent member in Westminster, and says he still does not plan to join Mr Salmond’s Alba Party.
He was suspended by the SNP earlier in summer for a public row with a colleague. After relations broke down further, Mr MacNeil announced he had been expelled from Humza Yousaf’s party on August 11.
SNP ‘treading water’ on independence
Mr MacNeil said: “I look forward to visiting the north-east. I fell out with the SNP leadership over representing my constituency on issues such as ferries and fishing but urgency in the approach to independence is the real necessity.
“The SNP have been treading water on independence for years and it will be a pleasure to speak with Alex, the man who required just one election mandate to deliver an opportunity for Scots to vote for independence.”
Mr Salmond said: “Angus MacNeil has incurred tremendous admiration for his determination to stick up for his constituency regardless of personal consequences.
“He is also the one senior SNP figure who realised years ago that, in the absence of another referendum, the national movement must look for an election mandate as the way forward to independence.
“It would be best to fight that election on a Scotland United for Independence approach.”
READ MORE: 5 reasons for Angus MacNeil’s SNP expulsion
Mr Salmond, when SNP leader, won a majority at the Scottish Parliament in the 2011 Holyrood election.
He secured a referendum with prime minister David Cameron but quit after losing the vote in 2014.
He helped form the Alba Party in 2021 and has two former SNP MPs on the benches at Westminster.
The Conservative UK Government consistently refuses to grant another agreed referendum on independence.
The position leaves pro-Yes voters pinning hopes on demonstrating a majority for independence at the ballot box in the next general election.
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