THE Alba Party have lost their deposit in every seat they contested at the General Election.
According to BBC Scotland’s Philip Sim, the party managed a total of 11,784 votes across the 19 constituencies they contested.
Both the party’s previous MPs at Westminster, Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill lost their seats.
Hanvey finished in seventh placed in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, picking up 1132 votes overall, behind the Scottish Greens and Reform UK.
Candidates must pay a deposit to enter a UK parliamentary election and this is only return if they receive at least 5% of the votes.
Hanvey picked up Alba’s highest vote share with 2.8% of the vote.
The seat was won by Labour’s Melanie Ward, with a 45.7% share of the vote while the SNP’s Lesley Blackhouse finished in second.
MacAskill meanwhile stood in Alloa and Grangemouth, where he picked up less than 1000 votes.
It was an area the party had targeted, with one of the key pledges in its manifesto to “wholeheartedly” support the workers at Grangemouth.
Overall, MacAskill picked up 638 votes while the seat was won by Labour’s Brian Leishman, who beat the SNP’s John Nicolson.
It is understood that all of Alba's candidates lost their deposits.
Reacting to the news, Alex Salmond called for a “realignment” of Scottish politics and congratulated Keir Starmer on his victory.
“First I congratulate Keir Starmer on his landslide victory. However, Labour should also reflect on the fact that their victory has been achieved on a much lower numbers of votes, and indeed share of the vote, than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in defeat in 2017.
"The difference is the realignment of the right wing in English politics and the rise of Reform which has handed the landslide victory to Labour.
"The question now is will the hard reality of the Scottish election which has decimated the SNP provoke the necessary realignment in independence politics.
"The only viable strategy towards independence is to see the list vote in the 2026 Scottish poll as the means by which the independence parties working together can achieve a popular mandate by winning a majority of the votes."
Instead of using successive mandates for independence Nicola sturgeon instead used the independence movement to force through toxic gender & green policies. The SNP stopped progressing the case for independence so the independence movement has stopped voting for them. https://t.co/YRnnsZchwb
— Christopher McEleny (@ChrisMcEleny) July 4, 2024
Following the release of the exit poll on Thursday evening, the party’s general secretary Chris McEleny took to social media to criticise comments made by Nicola Sturgeon, who was discussing a difficult night for the SNP.
McEleny said: “Instead of using successive mandates for independence Nicola Sturgeon instead used the independence movement to force through toxic gender & green policies.
“The SNP stopped progressing the case for independence so the independence movement has stopped voting for them.”
McEleny had also stood as a candidate in the General Election in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, where he picked up 723 votes.
The seat was won by Labour’s Martin McCluskey, who picked up 46.9% of the vote in the constituency.
It marked yet another Labour gain from the SNP, with Ronnie Cowan coming in second place with 12,560 votes.
