Jim Sillars has said Alex Salmond’s proposals for a pro-independence pact at the next election is the only way to save the SNP from being “swept away”.
The former nationalist MP who famously won the 1988 Govan by-election has backed a plan for his party, Alba and Scottish Greens to field only one candidate in each seat in the next Westminster poll.
He said: “The SNP may have written Alex Salmond out of its history, but they would be well advised to respond positively to his reincarnation’s proposal of a pact, to field United Scotland candidates, at next year’s Westminster election –especially when a series of polls shows many of its MPs are going to be swept away.
“Around 45per cent of Scots voters want independence. In our first-past-the-post system that guaranteed the SNP massive victories in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
“But Nicola Sturgeon’s failure over a referendum, her mad coalition with the Greens, and the incompetent shambles the Holyrood government has become, has soured so many, their vote can no longer be had for the asking.”
“This loss of confidence in the SNP is what the polls reveal. The former spearhead of the movement has been blunted. It is doubtful if Humza Yousef can sharpen it again to reap that 45per cent vote.
“The question Salmond asked, and answered, is how do you save the SNP, and with it, the independence movement from an electoral hammering.”
