Alex Salmond to RT: Scottish Independence is for the here and now – not for the hereafter

Former Scottish leader Alex Salmond has told RT that his new political party, Alba, wants independence for Scotland ASAP – even if it means a Catalan-style attempt to break away from the UK.

Polls suggest that Salmond’s new party could cost current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon her majority in the Scottish parliament when the country votes in elections on May 6.

Sturgeon, Salmond’s former protegee and leader of the Scottish National Party, has been accused of being too cautious in seeking independence. She has said that a Section 30 order from the Conservative government, in other words getting Westminster’s permission to re-run the 2014 independence vote, would be the “gold standard” of polls (although there’s little chance of the Conservative prime minister agreeing to it) and that Scotland must first deal with the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic before seeking to break away.

In his interview with RT’s Polly Boiko, Salmond said that he’s confident that Westminster will have to agree to another referendum but even without its (legal) blessing, Scotland’s independent legal system would allow for a Catalan-style bid for total independence (even though it failed, catastrophically, for Catalonia in 2017).

The former Scottish leader also answered questions about his personal popularity ratings, his new party’s chances of success, and his highly publicized spat with Nicola Sturgeon.

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