Salmond: Sturgeon took independence backwards – I regret quitting as SNP leader

Alex Salmond is not a fan of the SNP’s Scottish independence strategy. In fact, he is scathing about most things when it comes to the party he led for more than 20 years.

The veteran politician is “cataclysmically disappointed” in his former comrades for wasting “heaven-sent” opportunities in the decade since the nationalists narrowly lost the 2014 referendum on separation.

In an outspoken interview with i, Mr Salmond shares his regret about handing control of the party to Nicola Sturgeon in 2014, accusing his successor of taking the independence cause “substantially backwards” during her time in charge.

“I think it’s probably the great regret in my life – resigning office,” the former First Minister said. “I resigned office in 2014, because yes, we’d lost the referendum. But I also thought things were on an inevitable course to independence.

“If I’d been told, look just hang on a year or two and you’ll get Brexit and Boris Johnson, I would have said, ‘Ah, I think it’ll be a good idea just to hang on for a year or two’. These are heaven sent chances, and why they weren’t pursued, I find it difficult to fathom.”

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Mr Salmond formed the breakaway pro-independence party Alba following an almighty bust-up with Ms Sturgeon and her SNP government over allegations of sexual misconduct against him in 2018.

The bitter saga, which saw him cleared of all charges in 2020, is not entirely over. Mr Salmond’s civil lawsuit against the Scottish Government for damages and loss of earnings is still to be heard.

Undistracted, the 69-year-old has been busy plotting his own independence roadmap with the launch of Alba’s general election manifesto.

The Alba leader believes every single election in Scotland, both Holyrood and Westminster, should now be fought seeking a “straightforward popular mandate” to enter into independence negotiations with the UK Government

Hoping his party can cling on to its two seats at Westminster, Mr Salmond has decided to bide his time and wait until 2026 before standing himself at the Scottish Parliamentary elections.

He believes Alba can win 15 per cent of the vote, and win over 20 seats, under the more favourable proportional representation system used at Holyrood.

He is dismissive of the “not credible” independence plans set out by SNP leader John Swinney, who wants to demand talks with No 10 over another referendum if the party wins a majority of seats in Scotland on 4 July.

“At best it’s a dead end, and at worst it’s a cul-de-sac,” says Mr Salmond on the idea of a fresh referendum. Describing Mr Swinney as a “safety-first” politician, he adds: “He’s trying to pursue some line through the middle… you just end up in a muddle.”

Alex Salmond is eyeing up the 2026 Holyrood election for a mandate on independence (Photo: PA)

Mr Salmond has something more radical in mind. He wants to use the 2026 Holyrood election as a de facto vote on Scottish independence, aware that the narrative around this summer’s general election is likely to be dominated by the UK-wide shift towards Labour.

If there is a majority of votes for pro-indy parties – the SNP, Scottish Greens, and Alba – in 2026, then Mr Salmond thinks it can be used as a mandate to start immediate negotiations on a breakaway Scottish state, without any need for a referendum.

“There’s no point in pushing for something that’s not going to be agreed. And Westminster is not going to agree to another referendum in the foreseeable future. Why should they?”

“A lot of countries have become independent without referendums,” he adds. “The Irish Free State didn’t have a referendum to establish a free state – the election of 1918 was taken as the electorate mandate which justified the negotiations.”

Mr Salmond suggests Ms Sturgeon missed an ideal chance to strong-arm a succession of Conservatives Prime Ministers into a referendum during the turmoil of the Brexit period.

He is also scathing about her “ridiculous” decision to go to the Supreme Court. The SNP’s legal push for a referendum reached an impasse after judges ruled in 2022 that the Scottish Government did not have the power to hold a vote without agreement from the UK Government.

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon campaigning for independence during the 2014 referendum campaign (Photo: Getty)

The court case helped “close out certain tactical manoeuvres”, says Mr Salmond. “I don’t know what happened to Nicola Sturgeon. Maybe she changed, or maybe I was just capable of a total misjudgement [in her].

“I’m just vaguely pointing out that for all her talents of explanation and the rest of it, that she didn’t take the cause of independence forwards. She took it substantially backwards.”

Mr Salmond says he would have “loved” to have pitted his wits as First Minister against Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over the past decade.

“Westminster was a lot weaker than the SNP gave it credit for in most of the last 10 years,” he says. “There was a period of critical instability and weakness at the heart of Whitehall, the like of which we’ve not seen for a century or more, a succession of weak Prime Ministers.

“That should have been a manifest opportunity. England’s difficulty should have been Scotland’s opportunity,” he adds.

There is still no love lost between the two most towering figures in SNP history. Following their row over the sexual misconduct allegations, Ms Sturgeon said Mr Salmond was “somebody that I don’t want to have in my life”.

She was also “appalled” that her predecessor chose to host a talk show on Russian broadcaster RT in 2017. Mr Salmond suspended his programme on the Kremlin-funded network in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.

Mr Salmond is unrepentant about pitching Alba as the home of disenfranchised nationalists unhappy with the SNP’s so-called “woke” policies – mainly the push for gender self-identification for transgender Scots, a legislative move blocked by the UK Government.

“One of the most distressing things of late has been the SNP’s persistent pursuit of, at best, blind alleys, and at worst rabbit holes,” says Mr Salmond, accusing Ms Sturgeon and her successor Humza Yousaf of failing to see how the big push on gender self-ID would leave some voters cold.

“Let’s just say that you were the world’s most pronounced advocate of self-identification, gender politics, and you thought that was the really important thing facing the universe… At the very least you would say, ‘Perhaps this is not the right time to divide opinion,'” he says.

Asked if he could see a reconciliation with Ms Sturgeon in the years ahead, Mr Salmond says: “I never say never to anything.

“I think when Nicola is asked that question, [she says] she cannot foresee such times. So be it. I don’t think it’s really going to matter in terms of the future of Scottish politics.”

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He also rejects the idea the upcoming civil court case – Mr Salmond is seeking damages and loss of earnings after accusing Ms Sturgeon and Scottish Government officials of “misfeasance” in their handling of the harassment complaints against him – will be viewed by voters as division in the independence movement.

“I doubt that – I don’t think so,” he says. “I don’t think what’s on the edge of people’s lips as you go round the doors is, ‘That misfeasance case in the Court of Session is a thing that’s worrying me greatly.'”

With his eyes firmly on the 2026 election, Mr Salmond aims to cause as much trouble as possible until then, and hopes his old allies in the SNP are inclined to do the same.

With polls in recent years showing support for independence firmly deadlocked at 50-50, Mr Salmond remains optimistic. He does not believe a prospective Labour Government, if the election polls are correct, has to be seen to plunge Britain into an “irredeemable crisis” for independence support to build among Scots.

“Will opportunities [for Scottish independence] come about again? The answer is that they probably will,” he says. “But you have to be capable of seizing the moment when it comes.”

Election 2024

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The Tory betting scandal has been leading the election news agenda, while Labour has been battling to see off the Greens in Bristol Central. Nigel Farage has been under fire for making comments about the Russia-Ukraine war, as polling predicts a Labour landslide.

All the main parties have launched their manifestos: read i‘s breakdown of all the pledges from the Tories, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.

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