A CALL from the Alba Party for the Scottish Parliament list vote to be used as a de facto independence referendum has been rejected by MSPs.
The party’s sole MSP Ash Regan put forward a motion in Holyrood calling for Scots to be given the chance to show their backing for self-determination in the regional vote in 2026.
Alba argued it would give Scots “the voice they deserve,” but the idea was rejected by the rest of the chamber including the SNP Government.
It comes as a poll from Survation this week showed the majority of Scots want to see a second independence referendum within the next decade.
Alba leader Alex Salmond has said the decision to vote down the motion suggests the SNP are "in limbo" with "no route or strategy" for independence after the SNP's depute leader Keith Brown told an audience at The National's Indyref @ 10 event that Westminster would never grant another referendum to Scotland.
At the debate on the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum, MSPs backed a motion tabled by First Minister John Swinney by 68 votes to 56 that stated: “It is only with all the powers of a normal independent nation that Scotland would truly be enabled to take its own decisions to fully meet the needs of the people of Scotland.”
The rejected Alba motion did also call for the creation of a constitutional convention, but this proposal was backed in a Green amendment that passed.
Regan (below) said: “A simple majority of pro-independence votes on the Scottish Parliamentary list vote will provide the clear, democratic mandate needed to push forward with Scottish independence.
“It’s time to put democracy in top gear and give the people of Scotland the voice they deserve. Scotland’s future will not be decided by Westminster but by the people of Scotland.
The suggestion of using the list vote in 2026 as a de facto referendum was put forward by an audience member at The National’s Indyref @ 10 event in Glasgow on Tuesday but was swiftly rejected by the SNP’s depute leader Keith Brown.
However, he did argue strongly for the creation of a constitutional convention as he stressed his belief Westminster would never grant Scotland another Section 30 order as it did for the referendum in 2014.
After the 1987 General Election, the Scottish Constitutional Convention was formed to ask for a parliament with law-making powers which involved representatives from political parties in Scotland, local authorities, churches and voluntary organisations.
Its final report "Scotland’s Parliament, Scotland’s Right" was published in November 1995 and contained proposals for a devolution arrangement.
Brown told the audience: “People have got to accept they’re [Westminster] not going to give us one. Stop playing by their rules and thinking we’ve got to go pleading to them. I think we have to take it into our own hands.”
Salmond said the SNP was "in danger of becoming nothing" with its positioning on independence.
He said: "Keith Brown said that Westminster would never concede another independence referendum. It’s taken a while for the SNP to catch on, but he’s probably right.
"The problem is that on the very same day, the SNP MSPs combined with the Better Together coalition of Labour/Tory/Liberal to vote down Ash Regan’s proposal to claim the next Scottish elections as the electoral mandate for independence. That leaves the SNP in limbo with no route or strategy towards achieving their historic mission of Scottish independence.
"Right now it [the SNP] is in danger of becoming nothing."
"The dream is still alive and kicking - it’s just that the SNP have chosen to no longer be part of it."
Ex-SNP MP Angus MacNeil accused the SNP leadership of "floundering" in its position on how independence should be achieved.
He posted on Twitter/X: "So the SNP admit there will be no referendum, but then they block Ash Regan's use of elections.
"SNP hierarchy is floundering and if the membership still wants independence for Scotland - it has to ask serious questions fast."
In a set-piece speech on Wednesday, the First Minister said Scotland is now closer to independence than it was 10 years ago, later saying in the Holyrood debate that the “people of Scotland should have the opportunity to take that decision again”.
He added the “challenge” for independence supporters is now to convince more Scots that their priorities could be better addressed outside of the UK.
