THE Alba Party have said they have seen “hundreds of new members” join following the announcement of Humza Yousaf as the new leader of the SNP.
Nicola Sturgeon has now signed and sent her resignation letter to the King with Yousaf set to become first minister in the Scottish Parliament later this afternoon.
On Monday, Alex Salmond congratulated Yousaf but said that “continuity won’t cut it” as he congratulated Kate Forbes and Ash Regan on their “brave campaigns”.
Regarding membership numbers, a party source told The National: “We are pleased to see hundreds of new members join the Alba Party since yesterday afternoon.
“It’s clear that many members of the independence movement agree that continuity won’t cut it.”
In his reaction comments, Salmond also said Regan and Forbes had “fought against the full force of the SNP establishment”.
The party source added: “In the weeks and months to come, and as the Scottish Government continue to spend more time on self-identification when they should be campaigning for self-determination, Alba will continue to play a vital role in the independence movement.”
The National asked for a specific figure regarding the number of new members but this was not provided.
Elsewhere, Mhairi Black said the Scottish Government’s gender laws are “not controversial” and Yousaf would be right to challenge the UK Government for blocking them.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said: “I think he is quite within his rights to do that because ultimately if they [the UK Government] can get away with it then there is absolutely nothing stopping them doing it when it comes to other devolved issues.
“When it comes to the actual detail of what the policy does, it is really not controversial. But a lot of the criticism of it, I think, are based on misinformation or people not having an idea of what the full picture is.”
Black added: “What this is about is pointing out that Westminster can’t just keep riding roughshod over the Scottish Parliament.
“This is something that is completely within the devolved capabilities and yet the UK Government and a Tory government we have not voted for is telling us that they can dictate what laws we can make in Scotland and I don’t think that is right.”
Following Yousaf’s confirmation as the new leader of the SNP, the Scottish Greens confirmed they would continue with the Bute House Agreement.
This came after much speculation over what would happen to the deal which put the Greens in Government were Kate Forbes to have won the top job.
