THE Alba Party has hailed the release of 100,000 Wee Alba Books as a new manifesto for the “fundamental case” for Scottish independence.

Speaking to The National at the launch of the book, which makes an updated case for independence, party leader Alex Salmond said Alba’s eponymous book was bigger than any party.

The former First Minister revealed last year that Alba would seek to release an updated version of the first indyref’s Wee Blue Book.

The 58-page publication includes sections on pensions, currency, Europe, finances, borders and the economy, among other areas.

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At the launch event, held last night at Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow, Salmond criticised the SNP for delays in seeking indyref2 while accusing sections of the party of not caring for one at all.

Salmond said: “There are many issues [the book answers]. The principal strategic one is Europe. The SNP’s position on Europe is incredible. No-one believes you can get into the EU in five years.”

Salmond said what is articulated in the book is that an independent Scotland should seek membership of Efta, which can be done within “weeks and months” – and get to joining the EU in "due course".

“This isn’t the Alba manifesto,” he said. “This is the fundamental case for Scottish independence, this is bigger than Alba, this is bigger than the SNP, bigger than the Green Party – it’s bigger than anybody.”

Along with Brexit and the EU, the book tackles “currency, pensions, trade, borders, trade, and Scotland’s finances”.

The Alba Party leader said the launch of the book will infuse a new impetus into an independence movement which he suggested

had stalled. “It gives people the confidence that perhaps many of us in the Yes movement have been lacking over the last seven or eight years,” Salmond said.

The National:

Speaking to a crowd of mainly Alba Party members in Glasgow, the former SNP leader, who revealed he was just out of self-isolation, said: “I like to think, what are the questions I would like to ask someone right now, to which if they had the answer they would certainly be a supporter or convert to independence.

“And I think I know, right now, and it’s in the book. Scotland is a country that produces three times as much gas as we consume but for some reason the SNP and the Greens want to stop producing it.

“Last year we produced 97% of the electricity we need from renewable resources. So the question is if we produce three times the gas we need and 97% of our electricity needs comes from renewable, which is not affected by the price of Russian gas or the market price, then why have electricity bills in Scotland just gone up by 54% or even more so?”

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Seeking to update the argument for independence for 2022 and onwards, Salmond said energy bills are going up because the country’s energy resources are controlled by the “devil’s twins” of the Westminster government and international capital.

The book gives thanks to Robin McAlpine, Stuart Campbell, Craig MacKenzie, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, Ailsa Gray, Craig Murray, Jim Sillars, Richard Murphy, Isobel Lindsay, Alex Neil, Marjorie Thompson, Mark Hirst, Alexander Torrance and Calum Ansell.

It includes QR codes to access video interviews with independence experts covering the key topics, and will be the subject of “independence roadshows” around Scotland.

In a closing note to the book, Salmond says: “Please consult, discuss and question the contents of this book – as it is information which holds the key to our future.”