ALEX Salmond has said the independence battle must not be allowed to "go cold" as he delivered a message to Scots outside Wembley Stadium.
His intervention comes just a day after a column by journalist David Pratt in The National sparked a new discussion among Yes supporters about whether enough was currently being done to move forward with indyref2.
The article was highlighted by the SNP MP Joanna Cherry who thanked Pratt for his contribution to the debate and said she hoped "it will be listened to and not met with the shoot the messenger approach with which some of us are all too familiar".
READ MORE: David Pratt: Post-election silence on independence from SNP is deafening
Speaking outside Wembley, where England will play Scotland in the Euro 2020 football championships tonight, the former First Minister this afternoon questioned why it is deemed safe to hold the competition and Glasgow’s COP26 climate conference but not a referendum.
He also said that pending Covid restrictions he hoped that upwards of 750 delegates would be able to attend his party’s inaugural conference which he revealed was being planned for September 11 and 12 at Greenock Town Hall.
The Alba leader said that if the constitutional issue is not progressed then come September “the wind from the River Clyde will be blowing firmly in Alba’s direction”saying his party would be aiming to heat up the Scottish independence debate.
He said: "It strikes me as passing strange that if you can hold Euro 2020, if you can hold a Scottish election, and if you can hold the COP26 summit in Glasgow, then why on Earth can’t you hold a Scottish Independence referendum?
"Perhaps the requisite enthusiasm is not there to push that case forward because the constitutional issue has gone cold since the Scottish election and we’ve got to heat it up again.
"If our suspicions are confirmed then come September the wind from the River Clyde will be blowing firmly in Alba's direction at our historic inaugural conference in Greenock Town Hall.”
Alba's interim general secretary Chris McEleny said: "All Alba party members that join the party before the end of June will be entitled to attend the Alba Conference which will be held on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September.
"I am delighted to have secured Greenock as the location for the conference and will be setting out in the coming weeks how our members can help shape the agenda of the conference and our policy direction going forward."
Greenock Town Hall sits in the heart of the most deprived area of Scotland. In the 2020 SIMD deprivation figures Central Greenock was ranked as Scotland’s most deprived data zone.
In a statement Alba said its decision to hold their inaugural conference there sets out a marker that they will be putting a strong focus on addressing poverty and inequality in Scotland ahead of the local council elections next year.
Alba had a devastating result at the Holyrood election on May 6, failing to win any seats in the Scottish Parliament with its message that SNP list votes were wasted in areas where the SNP would win constituency seats appearing to benefit the Greens instead.
However, the party has said their membership has grown on a weekly basis and the party believe that they will overtake the Greens and Scottish Conservatives in membership size within a few months.
The SNP won a record fourth consecutive term in the Holyrood elections on May 6 and in her victory speech Sturgeon said Scots had voted for a second independence referendum.
In a phone call after her triumph, she later told Boris Johnson that a referendum is “a matter of when, not if” after a pro-independence majority of MSPs were returned despite tactical voting by pro-Union supporters.
The First Minister has said she wants to hold an independence referendum before the end of 2023 so long as Covid has passed. She has also indicated she would be prepared to press ahead with the vote without the agreement of the Prime Minister, using Holyrood legislation.
In the May elections, Alba campaigned on a “Five Point Plan” to eradicate poverty in Scotland which they believed to be the most radical policy offering any party had made to address the root causes of deprivation and inequality in Scotland.
The plan's points are:
- Introduce an Annual £500 payment to assist half a million low earnings households in Scotland.
- Increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for 400,000 children in quarter of a million households.
- Extend free school meals to all primary and secondary pupils in Scotland.
- Double the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) from £30 to £60 for 16-19 year olds in school and college.
- Introduce universal access to sports facilities for all children and young people under 18.
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