Angus Macneil hopes to stand as Alba Party candidate at next election
4 December 2024
Ex-
He says his new party is the “best way of advancing Scottish independence.”
Mr MacNeil held the Western Isles seat for 19 years, having been elected five times.
The majority of his tenure was under the SNP banner though he increasingly voiced criticism over its independence strategy.
He previously claimed their leadership let down the independence cause, dismissing his former party as being “lost” and “clueless” over its strategy.
In July, he ran as an independent candidate in the Western Isles general election for Westminster having been expelled from the SNP the previous summer.
Labour’s Torcuil Crichton triumphed in the local poll with the SNP’s poor showing in the islands mirroring its reversal in fortune across Scotland.
Alba’s acting leader Kenny MacAskill welcomed MacNeil to his new political home:
"We are very pleased that Angus is joining us. He was a long-
In a speech to a YES movement gathering in Edinburgh earlier this year, Angus Macneil said: “All the political ideas in the independence movement are coming from Alba and the wider YES movement.
“We have to look beyond the current troubles of the SNP and make the case for independence in a positive, fearless and forthright manner.”
He added: “The islands are tired of the SNP’s lack of ambition. We look for our inspiration to the arc of prosperity surrounding Scotland, independent Ireland to the west, independent Iceland to our north and independent Norway to our east.”