SCOTLAND has seen a “decade of drift” since the 2014 independence referendum, Alex Salmond has said.
In a new year message, the former first minister turned Alba Party leader said Scotland is “moving politically backwards” and hit out at the Scottish Government and the SNP.
Salmond, who quit the SNP in 2018, said that while “foundation” of the case for independence had been the competence of the government that he had led, this had now been “badly eroded” under his successors.
He also went on to accuse the SNP, now led by Humza Yousaf, of having “given up the ghost on presenting a coherent independence strategy”.
Salmond said: “In the aftermath of the independence referendum of a decade ago, few people would have predicted a Scotland moving politically backwards not forwards.
“The transformational impact of the referendum galvanised an electorate into further positive votes for progressive change.
“However, instead of forging ahead to independence, Scottish politicians have dithered, delayed and finally dissipated the impetus for progress. It has been a decade of drift to the great detriment of the Scottish people.”
Salmond announced his resignation as both SNP leader and Scottish first minister after the No side won the independence referendum of 2014.
He was announced as the leader of the new pro-independence Alba Party in 2021 ahead of the Holyrood elections.
Salmond stated: “The bedrock of Scottish government competence, which was the foundation on which support for independence grew, has been badly eroded, while the SNP have given up the ghost on presenting a coherent independence strategy.”
Salmond said in the 2026 Holyrood elections the Alba Party would “offer the people the direct opportunity to vote for independence and to propose to the Scottish Parliament a plan to seize the political initiative back from Westminster”.
This, he said, would ensure that “this decade of political drift comes to an end”.
It comes after Salmond urged the Scottish Government to change its Budget for 2023-2024 to avoid putting businesses north of the Border at a disadvantage compared to their English counterparts.
Salmond argued that business rate relief should be brought in in Scotland, saying: “If you want to build a case for independence you can’t allow Scottish medium and large businesses to claim they would be better treated under the Tories in England or even Labour in Wales.”
