A NEW political party launched today with a single mission in mind: independence.
The New Scotland Party held its launch event at the Salutation Hotel, Perth and promises an unconventional but entirely member-led approach to independence.
Peter A Bell, the founder and interim leader of the New Scotland Party, is a self-described part of the "radical" wing of the independence movement and staunch republican.
A blog post by Bell summarises the political compass of his new party, reading: “New Scotland Party is a national and constitutional party solely focused on the issue of Scotland’s constitutional status and settlement.”
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The party manifesto has a single aim: independence. The manifesto seeks a total revocation of Section 30, a law wherein Westminster may restrict the Scottish Parliament’s legislative authority.
The manifesto also calls for all Scottish and UK elections to act as a way to "facilitate the exercise of Scotland’s right to self determination".
Bell explained: “We do not take any position on any issue except the constitutional issue. The constitutional issue has to be separated from all other issues. It has to be treated in isolation as it sits above and around all other issues.”
He continued: “We are entirely focused on the constitutional issue. [People] won’t be voting for a vision; you’ll be voting for the freedom of the Scottish people.”
The six-point manifesto also acts as a proposed 2026 election pledge for other major political parties. Using the SNP as an example, Bell explained that: “The idea we can do without the biggest party is a nonsense. We can’t. You [instead] work within the SNP to get [our] manifesto adopted.
“That is the objective, to get all of the nominally pro-independence parties to become true parties of independence by adopting the manifesto for independence. That way every vote, for every independence party counts as a mandate for the manifesto.”
The New Scotland Party will not run in the upcoming 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election.
“We don’t see any need [to stand candidates in 2026]. It knocks on the head of all that nonsense of splitting the independence vote, what that really means is splitting the party vote. If we have the manifesto for independence adopted then it wont matter if the party vote is split as it will still be a vote for the manifesto for independence," Bell said.
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One attendee asked whether this makes the party a lobbying group, to which Bell responded: “We are acting as a lobbying group initially, but it is a political party.”
Members will become equal shareholders and directly influence policy and stances. There will be no central headquarters, instead The New Scotland Party will carry out the majority of its business online.
Bell explained that this structure is intended to better represent membership: “Commonly, political parties have been structured on a branch basis with a central headquarters. There is evidence enough that this structure tends to create islands of power.
“This is a formula to creating cliques of careerists who vie for the control of the party. Where is the membership in all of this? Out in the cold. We reject this model. We intend to be a national party dealing with national issues and organised on a national basis.”
However, no plans for a vetting process for new members are currently in place.
Bell began the launch event by addressing the clash with Alex Salmond’s memorial service, which took place during the party's launch, at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.
“What ultimately prompted the decision to proceed as planned with the launch was the realisation that the clash with Alex Salmond’s memorial service is in fact a happy coincidence," Bell explained.
“Alex Salmond brought Scotland’s cause into the modern age. He launched a new phase in the struggle to liberate Scotland from the oppression of a grotesquely asymmetric political union.
“[The memorial] marks the end of a phase to the independence struggle, while [this] signals the start of a new phase.
“Alex Salmond has died. The dream lives on…it falls to us to continue where he left off.
The party website, newscotlandparty.scot, and member applications launch Monday, December 2.
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