ALLIANCE for Independence is no more, from now on they will be known as Action For Independence, in a bid to get past strict Electoral Commission rules.

Last month, the watchdog rejected their attempt to register as a political party, saying the name could confuse voters.

The Commission told AFI that their name gave the impression that they were “an alliance of some or all independence supporting parties”. They said: “It was our view that a voter was likely to consider this party to represent parties that it did not who share similar aims surrounding independence.”

They added: “A proposed name cannot be registered if, in our opinion, a voter is likely to be misled as to the effect of their vote.”

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Dave Thompson, the former SNP MSP and interim leader of the AFI, said these were “technical issues” which could “easily be sorted by minor changes to our constitution”. However, the Commission was not for budging.

The Alliance said that while they remained “convinced of their case” the only option left to them was a “costly and time consuming judicial review”.

Instead they have now re-applied to the Electoral Commission to change the name.

Thompson said: “We actually thought Alliance was self-explanatory, but the Electoral Commission didn’t share that view.

“We have no reason to think they’ll object to Action for Independence and, while we were disappointed with their first decision, we had to propose a new name in order to get us registered to stand in the Holyrood poll next year.

“I think Action for Independence is a good choice as ‘Action’ is a dynamic word and action for independence is something that many Yes supporters desperately want to see.”

So far only Tommy Sheridan’s Solidarity party has signed up to AFI. But Thompson has insisted others are interested.