Why I joined Alba

If there is one thing that a long career in building houses, man and boy, has taught me it is that you can’t achieve much on your own. In contrast a team of like-minded people working for a common purpose can achieve a great deal. It was therefore obvious to me that on leaving SNP I should join another party because I am determined to keep my shoulder to the political wheel, not least because the urgency and necessity of Scottish Independence is greater now than ever.

The Greens, although I want to save the planet as much as the next person, perhaps more, were never an option. They are far too hair shirted for me and incline much more towards the stick than the carrot. It seems to me that they would cheerfully throw thousands out of work and take us back to their version of a kind of over-regulated authoritarian stone age. Worse than that is the constant oversimplification of the practicalities and the problems of reducing our carbon footprint to the required level. That is not to suggest that these aims are not achievable but not when their chief political proponents are so long on theory and so short on practical understanding of the issues. In any case Independence is even lower down the Green agenda than it is for SNP.

Alba seemed a much better prospect, only a few weeks old, led by Alex Salmond, an inspirational leader whom I was proud to serve under in Parliament. Kenny MacAskill is another former colleague I admire, not least because he was an excellent Justice Secretary who understood the full meaning of the word ‘Justice’ and the importance of this being upheld and being seen to be upheld in Scotland. Unlike the other smaller Independence supporting parties, Alba has quickly achieved in its 6000 members, that critical size necessary to be a player on Scotland’s political stage.

Friends asked if I was not put off by the negative media and press reports surrounding Alba. I don’t know who coined the phrase, ‘don’t believe everything you read in the press’ but it is perhaps even truer now than when that particular sage piece of advice was first minted. The treatment of Alba by the mainstream media suggests that it is a party that is viewed as dangerous by both the Scottish and Westminster establishments, just as SNP was viewed only a few years ago. I am therefore rather more attracted to Alba because of the negative press and media than I might otherwise have been.

And yet I am a great believer in the press and media, the ‘fourth estate’, as a very important, and indeed indispensable, pillar of a properly functioning democracy, however, the concentrated ownership of our press and media and the obvious bias within the BBC leave much to be desired in the fulfilment of this function. They are complicit in maintaining a status quo which serves them and their elite owners well but serves the vast majority of our population quite poorly.

Adding greatly to this problem is that of a lack of a competent party of opposition. At least one capable and dynamic opposition party is another vital component in a healthy democracy. The last seven years in Scotland have made it painfully obvious to me what this means in practical terms and has allowed an arrogant complacency to infect both the Scottish Government and SNP as a party.

There are many examples of this but the following two are sufficient to make the point. The First Minister has admitted complacency with regard to Scotland’s shocking number of drug deaths. As others have suggested there are clever and creative solutions that could be found to this disgraceful problem providing there is a political focus on solving the problem. It seems that  because of a preoccupation with less important matters this focus has been lost.

The CalMac ferries shambles is yet another example of the Scottish Government having taken its ‘eye off the ball’. The Highlands and Islands have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic as our economy depends so heavily on tourism. To have yet another years tourist season devastated by the disastrous performance of our ferry services will be a death blow to many businesses that have been hanging on by their fingernails.

It is not just the Government that is at fault here. Where were the opposition parties who ought to have been identifying and talking up these problems before they became so manifestly obvious? Where were the press and media? I have some sympathy for Scotland’s overstretched journalists who are caught up in the failing business model of print media and suffer a consequent lack of resources but the point I am making is that the system as a whole is failing our people and falling well below what we should expect in a healthy and functioning democracy.

Scotland is locked in a status quo supporting stasis which may be fine for those who are ‘doing alright’ but is not at all fine for most folk. The solution is another political party. A new party that has energy, determination and commitment. A party that is on the rise rather than our tired and failing opposition parties. All the better and more effective that it comes in the form of Alba, another Independence supporting party.

Alba, more than any unionist party could, will have the effect of making SNP and the Scottish Government ‘up their game’. Indeed, to those who follow Scottish politics closely, that effect is already apparent.

I was on the point of joining but before I finally made my mind up I read Alba’s Manifesto. I liked what I read and was pleasantly surprised that this complains of a timidity on the part of SNP and of the Scottish Government, not just in striving for and seeking Independence, but also in other areas of policy and practice. This spoke loudly to me. Looking back on my own time in Parliament one regret I have is that I should have been bolder.

Edwin Morgan’s line in his poem for the opening of the 2004 Parliament,

 ‘A nest of fearties is what they do not want’ , haunts me and keeps me awake at night. All the more so because it was repeated by Liz Lochhead in 2011. It’s a line that needs to be repeated again and again.

Having joined Alba I am amazed at the number of friendly and committed people working their socks off. There are some old friends here and some new ones who share my values. It reminds me of how the SNP used to be. There is hope and there is that nobility of purpose that SNP lost around seven years ago. I am greatly looking forward to our conference which is itself shaping up to be much like SNP conferences used to be.

I am glad I joined Alba. It feels like home and make no mistake about it, Alba is rising!