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127-718: CNP's name and purpose are partly inspired by the Scottish National Party , a social democratic , civic nationalist , center-left party that advocates independence for Scotland . CNP was registered with the California Fair Political Practices Commission , California's equivalent of the Federal Election Commission , in 2019 but not in 2021 or 2023. In January 2022, CNP had 413 registered voters in California. After April 2022,

254-539: A by-election for the seat of Glasgow Govan in 1988. Salmond served as a member of the House of Commons Energy Select committee from 1987 to 1992. When Gordon Wilson stood down as SNP leader in 1990, Salmond decided to contest the leadership. His only opponent was Margaret Ewing , whom Sillars decided to support. This caused considerable consternation amongst the SNP left as the two main left leaders were opposing each other in

381-522: A minority government , before going on to win the 2011 Parliament election , after which it formed Holyrood 's first majority government . After Scotland voted against independence in the 2014 referendum , Salmond resigned and was succeeded by Nicola Sturgeon . The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the 2015 general election to become the third largest party but in Holyrood it

508-449: A "pro Europe", "pro developing world" and "against military adventurism" stance. Following his return to the Commons he attracted media attention after telling Business Minister Anna Soubry during a debate, "Behave yourself, woman." Soubry said Salmond's attitude belonged "firmly in the 19th century". However, his then party leader, Nicola Sturgeon, defended the remarks and said, "It was in

635-412: A "social wage", as well as driving work forward to deliver the governments commitment to the abolition of bridge tolls, free concessionary travel, prescription charges and personal care. The most prominent aspect of the governments programme was on the constitutional question of Scottish independence, with the programme for government confirmed that a white paper would be published on the issue, and that

762-723: A Scottish assembly, subject to a referendum. Labour, the Liberals and the SNP campaigned for a "yes" vote in the referendum on the Scotland Act and "yes" won a majority, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution Labour MP George Cunningham requiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout. When the government decided not to implement the Act, the SNP's MPs withdrew their support and voted to support Margaret Thatcher's motion of no confidence in Callaghan's government. In

889-416: A boisterous House of Commons debate. The fundamental question, 'does that language indicate that Alex Salmond is sexist?' Absolutely not, there's no man I know who is less sexist." In the 2017 British general election, Salmond's seat was widely watched as a potential Tory gain amid a nationwide backlash to Sturgeon's decision to call for a second independence referendum. The Scottish Conservatives had taken

1016-612: A candidate for the Gordon constituency, which had been represented since 1999 by the Liberal Democrat Nora Radcliffe . Salmond won the seat with 41% of the vote, and a majority of 2,062, returning to the Scottish Parliament after six years' absence. In the election the SNP emerged as the largest party, winning 47 seats to Labour's 46. Having won more seats than any other party in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election,

1143-430: A candidate in the forthcoming election for the leadership of the SNP. This came as a surprise because he had previously declared that he would definitely not be a leadership candidate. In the postal ballot of all members he went on to receive over 75% of the votes cast, placing him well ahead of his nearest rival Roseanna Cunningham . As he was not an MSP at the time, his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon , took over as Leader of

1270-516: A coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats . When those talks failed, the SNP chose to form a one-party minority government. The SNP and Scottish Greens signed an agreement where the Greens supported SNP ministerial appointments, but did not offer support for any confidence or budget votes ("confidence and supply"). Due to the agreement signed with the Greens, Salmond's investiture vote

1397-457: A contest with Margaret Ewing . This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party Secretary John Swinney . The defection of Labour MP Dick Douglas further evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to the poll tax . Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in 1992 with

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1524-534: A hung parliament. After he declared his candidacy, he was described as a " bogeyman " (both by Lesley Riddoch and by himself ), and was reportedly "demonised" by "Conservative propaganda" portraying Labour Party leader Ed Miliband "compliantly dancing to Salmond the piper's tune" after the election. During the election campaign, Salmond recorded in his diary: "The Tory candidate, Colin Clark , cuts an impressive figure but his politics are far too dry for this area. If

1651-692: A joint ticket with Nicola Sturgeon . She led the SNP at Holyrood until Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007 for Gordon (later Aberdeenshire East ). The SNP placed first, ahead of the governing Labour Party in the 2007 election by one seat, with Salmond securing a confidence and supply support from the Scottish Greens , resulting in Salmond's appointment as first minister. Salmond led an SNP minority government in his first term. His government passed landmark legislation, including

1778-496: A loss of 39 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behind Scottish Labour , and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, "There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight", and that the SNP has to be "better at governing on behalf of

1905-830: A meeting of the Scottish Government security advisers in St Andrew's House in Edinburgh, followed by a request from the Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Salmond, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill and the Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini to attend an emergency COBRA meeting. By the evening of 30 June, Salmond had attended an online conference discussion with the Prime Minister of

2032-427: A minority government despite gaining an additional 1.1% of the constituency vote, for the party's best-ever result, from the 2011 election however 2.3% of the regional list vote. On the constituency vote, the SNP gained a net 10 seats from Labour. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained two constituency seats from the SNP on 2011. This election was followed by the 2016 European Union referendum , after which

2159-867: A new platform, based on the CfI platform. CNP has distanced itself from Yes California and its founder Louis J. Marinelli and its "Calexit", for its ideology and for its alleged connections to Russia . Jed Wheeler, CNP Secretary, stated to Politico that "Yes California is a movement whose optics are all designed for a Russian audience to reinforce Putin" and stressed that CNP is a progressive party. CNP's "core values" are "building and defending California", "fact-based, compassionate policy", "individual rights and social responsibility", "locally-focused political empowerment", and "prosperity for all Californians" CNP supports greater powers and funding control for local government in California . CNP has fielded electoral candidates for local and state offices. CNP candidates run on

2286-459: A non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at the Motherwell by-election in 1945, but Robert McIntyre MP lost the seat at the general election three months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for

2413-550: A political party on December 7, 2015. The Secretary of State approved this, assigned the code "CNP", and notified county offices of this on January 6, 2016. CNP held its first convention in June 2016 in Sacramento, California. CNP elected Theo Slater as Chair, Andria Franco as Vice Chair, and Jed Wheeler (founder of Californians for Independence) as Secretary. In September 2016, CNP merged with Californians for Independence (CfI) and adopted

2540-452: A political scandal . Salmond later was announced as the leader of a new pro-independence party, the Alba Party . The party failed to gain any seats in the 2021 national and 2022 local elections . He led the party until his death in 2024. Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was born in his parents' home at 101 Preston Road, Linlithgow , West Lothian , Scotland, on 31 December 1954. He was

2667-415: A reconfigured version of Gordon. The SNP's overall majority assured Salmond of another term as First Minister, and he was re-elected unopposed on 18 May 2011. This was the first single-party majority government in the history of the devolved parliament. Salmond's second government ended on 18 November 2014 upon his resignation. As a consequence of obtaining a majority, it gave Salmond the ability to call

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2794-505: A referendum on Scottish independence. On 10 January 2012, the Scottish Government announced that they intended to hold the referendum in late 2014. On 7 November 2012, Salmond surpassed the 2,001-day term of his predecessor, Jack McConnell. In September 2012, Salmond made a snap reshuffle in light of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum . Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Neil switched roles, with Sturgeon taking on responsibility for

2921-507: A referendum on the issue would be held in the second half of the Scottish parliamentary term. An agreement was signed on 15 October 2012 by David Cameron and Salmond which provided a legal framework for the referendum to be held, and on 21 March 2013 the SNP government announced that the referendum would be held on 18 September 2014. Scotland's Future , a white paper setting out the Scottish Government's vision for an independent Scotland,

3048-487: A report in relation to Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals "a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman" were still ongoing. On 6 May 2024, John Swinney was confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in the 2024 Scottish National Party leadership election . He was unopposed in the race as on 2 May his main speculated challenger, Kate Forbes , announced she would not stand in

3175-601: A result, Salmond resigned and was succeeded by Sturgeon. Returning to Westminster, Salmond was elected MP for Gordon in the 2015 general election . He was the SNP International Affairs and Europe spokesperson from 2015 to 2017. He left the House of Commons at the 2017 general election after losing his seat to the Scottish Conservative Party candidate Colin Clark . In August 2018, Salmond resigned from

3302-479: A surge in support at the 2019 general election , winning a 45.0% share of the vote and 48 seats, its second-best result ever. The party gained seven seats from the Conservatives and 6 from Labour. This victory was generally attributed to Sturgeon's cautious approach regarding holding a second independence referendum and a strong emphasis on retaining EU membership during the election campaign. The following January,

3429-466: A swing to the unionist parties, with seats being picked up by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats and a reduction in their majorities in the other seats. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leader Angus Robertson and former SNP leader and First Minister Alex Salmond . The SNP went on to achieve its best-ever European Parliament result in the final election before Brexit ,

3556-475: A third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. Furthermore, during that year's local elections the party claimed overall control of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth . This success was to continue for much of the decade, and at the 1977 district elections the SNP saw victories at councils including East Kilbride and Falkirk and held the balance of power in Glasgow . However, this level of support

3683-542: A vote was to be held by the Scottish Greens on whether to continue the agreement. Four days later, Yousaf announced that he would be resigning as Leader of the Scottish National Party and as First Minister of Scotland. In April 2023, two SNP officials were arrested and released without charge in connection with the investigation into Scottish National Party finances . Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 April and Colin Beattie,

3810-416: A weekly column for The Scotsman and appearing a number of times on Channel 4 's The Morning Line . During the election campaign, Salmond was photographed feeding a young supporter a Solero ice cream during an event at Stirling University , creating a photograph that would become iconic. Salmond was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and was one of its highest-profile members as Leader of

3937-513: Is composed of: There are also regular meetings of the National Assembly, which provides a forum for detailed discussions of party policy by party members. The SNP experienced a large surge in membership following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum . In 2013, the party's membership stood at just 20,000, but that number had swelled to over 100,000 by 2015. Party membership peaked in 2019 at around 125,000. Annual accounts submitted by

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4064-601: Is generally credited to his then girlfriend, Debbie Horton, an English student from London, who was secretary of the St Andrews University Labour club. After an argument in December 1973, she told him: "If you feel like that, go and join the bloody SNP". The next day Salmond did. The following day he and a friend attended the sparsely populated AGM of the university branch of the Federation of Student Nationalists. Being

4191-500: The 2003 invasion of Iraq he voiced strong opposition to the UK's participation. In the aftermath of the war, he lent support to the attempt of Adam Price , a Plaid Cymru MP, to impeach Tony Blair over the Iraq issue. Salmond went further than many anti-war politicians in claiming that Blair's statements on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were consciously intended to deceive

4318-471: The 2008 Glasgow East by-election , in which the SNP's John Mason took the third safest Labour seat in Scotland on a 22.5% swing. In May 2011 , the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats. This was followed by a reverse in the party's previous opposition to NATO membership at the party's annual conference in 2012 despite Salmond's refusal to apologise for the Kosovo broadcast on

4445-399: The 2017 general election , the SNP underperformed compared to polling expectations, losing 21 seats to bring their number of Commons seats down to 35 – however, this was still the party's second-best result ever at the time. This was largely attributed by many, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney, to their stance on holding a second Scottish independence referendum and saw

4572-470: The 79 Group . He was, along with other group leaders, suspended from membership of the SNP when the 79 Group was banned within the larger party. In 1981, he married Moira French McGlashan, then a senior civil servant with the Scottish Office . Following the SNP's National Council narrowly voting to uphold the expulsion, Salmond and the others were allowed back into the party a month later, and in 1985 he

4699-475: The British Privy Council four weeks later. Salmond became the first nationalist politician to hold the office of First Minister. He appointed Sturgeon as his Deputy First Minister and reappointed Elish Angiolini as Lord Advocate , the first time a Lord Advocate had served two different governments. Having won the largest number of seats in the general election (47 of 129), the SNP sought to form

4826-625: The British war effort against the Axis powers . Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence to Home Rule at that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form the Scottish Covenant Association ,

4953-586: The COVID-19 pandemic as well as pushing for a second referendum on independence. Although they won with a majority in 2021, a majority of MSPs elected had come from parties that supported Scottish independence; this prompted negotiations between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party to secure a deal that would see Green ministers appointed to government and the Scottish Greens backing SNP policies, with hopes that this united front on independence would solidify

5080-456: The Campaign for Nationalism in Scotland which sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such as William Wolfe , who developed a clearly social democratic policy platform throughout the 1970s. These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at

5207-597: The Government Economic Service (GES) as an assistant economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, part of the now defunct Scottish Office . Two years later he joined the staff of the Royal Bank of Scotland , where he worked for seven years, initially as an assistant economist. In 1982 he was appointed oil economist, and from 1984 he worked as a bank economist as well as continuing to hold

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5334-567: The Greens as well as civil society in the Scottish Constitutional Convention which developed a blueprint for a devolved Scottish Parliament due to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option. Alex Salmond had been elected MP for Banff and Buchan in 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in 1990 after

5461-465: The Lockerbie bombing incident in December 1988. In a statement addressing the attacks in Glasgow, Salmond stated "terrorist acts are the work of individuals not communities and the arrival of terror on our soil must not result in racist attacks on ethnic minorities whose only crime is to share the same religion and colour as the bombers. It is to be hoped that yesterday's attack is an isolated incident, but

5588-549: The National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party , the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election . With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as the opposition . The SNP gained power under Alex Salmond at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election , forming

5715-552: The Scottish Office , and later, the Royal Bank of Scotland . He was elected to the British House of Commons in 1987 , serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Banff and Buchan from 1987 to 2010. In 1990, he successfully defeated Margaret Ewing in the SNP leadership contest . Salmond led the party through the first election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 , where the SNP emerged as

5842-522: The Scottish Parliament , and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons . It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in the European Union , with a platform based on progressive social policies and civic nationalism . Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of

5969-530: The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) which like the SNP support independence. Following an unsuccessful leadership challenge in 2003, Swinney stepped down following disappointing results in the European elections of 2004 with Salmond victorious in the subsequent leadership contest despite initially refusing to be candidate. Nicola Sturgeon was elected Depute Leader and became the party's leader in

6096-561: The Secretary of State no longer listed the CNP in its voter tallies. To achieve qualified party status, the CNP would need 0.33% of total registered voters, or about 73,000. In May 2022, CNP claimed "a few thousand people" on its email list. CNP was created in August 2015, with the intent of creating a political platform centered on California's needs and Californian identity. CNP filed intent to qualify as

6223-532: The Secretary of State for Scotland , Jim Murphy , to meet with the Scottish cabinet to discuss the economic challenges at a time he issued a warning to the UK Government about their plans to cut £1 billion in investment to the Scottish budget. A white paper for an independence referendum, setting out four possible options ranging from no change to full independence, was published by the Scottish Government on 30 November 2009. A draft bill for public consultation

6350-744: The University of St Andrews , where he studied Economics and Medieval History . During his time at St Andrews, Salmond lived in Andrew Melville Hall . He was elected as vice-president (education) of the students' representative council in 1977 and was also nominated to join St Andrews Community Council that year. Salmond graduated with a 2:2 Joint Honours MA in Economics and Medieval History in May 1978. After graduating in 1978, he entered

6477-426: The abolition of university tuition fees , the scrapping of prescription charges and commitment to renewable energy . Salmond was the first nationalist first minister and in his first term he failed to obtain support for a referendum on Scottish independence due to insufficient support. At the 2011 Scottish Parliament election the SNP won with an overall majority, a feat previously thought almost impossible under

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6604-463: The additional member system used in elections for the Scottish Parliament. As of 2024, this is the only election in which a party has won a majority in the Scottish Parliament. Salmond used this mandate to hold a referendum, which led to the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement and the 2014 referendum. The Yes Scotland campaign , which his deputy Sturgeon led, was defeated in the referendum. As

6731-785: The climate change bill and the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee. Despite this, Salmond's minority government tended to strike budget deals with the Conservatives to stay in office. In the final few years of the New Labour government, there were four parliamentary by-elections in Scotland. The SNP saw marginal swings towards the party in three of them; 2006 in Dunfermline and West Fife , 2008 in Glenrothes and 2009 in Glasgow North East . None were as notable than

6858-544: The 'bluff' cards that are used as props in the show in the run-up to the first elections to the Scottish Parliament. To counter his frustration at having to sit in silence through what he claimed was an inappropriately political speech by Tony Blair at a charity lunch, he held up the bluff card as the Prime Minister began querying Scotland's economic prospects should independence occur. Throughout his time in politics, Salmond has maintained his interest in horse racing , writing

6985-453: The CNP ballot line, rather than as independents or on the Green ballot line. No CNP candidate has yet won an election. Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party ( SNP ; Scottish Gaelic : Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba [ˈpʰaːrˠtʰi ˈn̪ˠaːʃən̪ˠt̪ə nə ˈhal̪ˠapə] ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in

7112-480: The House of Commons to 56, ending 51 years of dominance by the Scottish Labour Party. All but three of the fifty-nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate in the party's most comprehensive electoral victory at any level. At the 2016 Scottish election , the SNP lost a net total of six seats, losing its overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, but returning for a third consecutive term as

7239-454: The Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of the Scottish Constitutional Convention in the successful Yes-Yes campaign in the devolution referendum which lead to the establishment of a Scottish Parliament with tax-varying powers. By 1999, the first elections to the parliament were being held, although

7366-461: The Opposition . He stood down as SNP leader in 2000, facing internal criticism after a series of high-profile fall-outs with party members, and was replaced by his preferred successor John Swinney , who defeated Alex Neil for the post. He resigned from the Scottish Parliament on 14 May 2001 to lead the SNP group in the House of Commons . During the prolonged parliamentary debates in the run-up to

7493-401: The SNP again pledged to hold an independence referendum if it won another term. The Westminster Labour government had initially designed the additional member system to make it impossible for one party to win an outright majority, but the SNP won enough seats from the other parties to take 69 seats, a majority of four. At this election, Salmond was re-elected for Aberdeenshire East, essentially

7620-535: The SNP candidate for the Westminster constituency of Gordon in the 2015 May election . He indicated that he did not intend to replace Angus Robertson , MP for Moray , as the SNP leader in the House of Commons . Nicola Sturgeon, his successor as SNP leader and First Minister, repeatedly reminded voters at the March 2015 SNP conference that she, not he, was party leader after he gave interviews about his possible role in

7747-414: The SNP group and the main opposition leader at Holyrood. Although he was re-elected in the 2005 general election , he made clear his intention to return to the Scottish Parliament at the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election in an attempt to win power for the first time. Salmond led the Scottish National Party through the 2007 election to the 3rd Scottish Parliament . In the election, Salmond stood as

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7874-458: The SNP group leader at Westminster and was replaced by Angus Robertson . The Guardian reported in November 2007 that Salmond believed Scotland would be independent within "the next decade". Salmond had been First Minister for just over a month when a vehicle rammed the front entrance of the main terminal building at Glasgow Airport on 30 June 2007, the first terrorist attack in Scotland since

8001-414: The SNP initially approached the Scottish Liberal Democrats to form a coalition, but they declined to take part in negotiations. This left the SNP without any possibility to form a coalition with an overall majority. Ultimately, the Scottish Green Party agreed to vote in an SNP minority government in return for concessions on climate policy and naming a Green to chair a committee. On 16 May 2007, with

8128-404: The SNP joined with the Liberal Democrats and Greens to call for continued UK membership of the EU. Despite a consequential increase in the Conservative Party vote at the 2017 local elections the SNP for the first time became the largest party in each of Scotland's four city councils: Aberdeen , Dundee , Edinburgh and Glasgow , where a Labour administration was ousted after 37 years. At

8255-410: The SNP to launching a Scotland-wide independence campaign before the end of 2023. Yousaf also made a number of policy announcements, including a freeze on Council Tax rates, additional funding for the NHS to reduce waiting lists as well as the issuing of government bonds to fund infrastructure projects. On 25 April 2024, it was announced that the Bute House Agreement would come to an end before

8382-407: The SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the Kilbrandon Commission . Despite this breakthrough, the 1970 general election was to prove a disappointment for the party as, despite an increase in vote share, Ewing failed to retain her seat in Hamilton. The party did receive some consolation with the capture of the Western Isles , making Donald Stewart the party's only MP. This

8509-513: The SNP treasurer, on 18 April. Murrell is the husband of former party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. The day Murrell was arrested and interviewed, Police Scotland also searched a number of addresses, including the SNP's headquarters and Murrell's home in Glasgow. Beattie resigned as SNP treasurer and was replaced by Stuart McDonald. Also in April, it was reported that the SNP's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had resigned from their role around October 2022, and were yet to be replaced, three months before

8636-442: The SNP up to supporting the campaign for devolution, and, along with Scottish Labour leader Donald Dewar and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace , played an active part in securing the victory for devolution in the Scotland referendum of 1997. Many hardline fundamentalists in the SNP objected to committing the party to devolution, as it was short of full political Scottish independence. Salmond's first spell as leader

8763-405: The SNP's mandate for the second independence referendum. The Third Sturgeon government was formed with Green support. In July 2021, the Scottish Police launched an investigation into possibly missing funds raised between 2017 and 2020 specifically for a second referendum. The investigation was given the code name Operation Branchform . In the 2022 Scottish local elections , the SNP remained as

8890-420: The Scottish Parliament needed to help harness Scotland's green energy potential and therefore take full advantage of the "renewable revolution". Earlier, in December 2009, he campaigned for climate change legislation at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to promote Scotland's role in tackling and mitigating climate change . This included signing a Partnership Agreement with the Maldives , one of

9017-482: The Scottish Parliament until Salmond was able to return at the next parliamentary election. In 2007 , the SNP emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 47 of 129 seats, narrowly ousting Scottish Labour with 46 seats and Alex Salmond becoming First Minister after ousting the Liberal Democrats in Gordon . The Scottish Greens supported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of

9144-580: The Union because of their emotional attachment to Britain. Older voters, women and middle class voters voted no in margins above the national average. Following the Yes campaign's defeat, Salmond resigned and Nicola Sturgeon won that year's leadership election unopposed. The SNP rebounded from their loss at the independence referendum at the 2015 general election eight months later, led by former Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon . The party went from holding six seats in

9271-628: The United Kingdom Gordon Brown and his governmental cabinet. At the start of the Global financial crisis in 2009 , Salmond claimed that the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown , was to blame for the trouble the economy had found itself in, claiming that the problem was "one created at 10 Downing Street ". In April 2009, Salmond pledged £95 million in investment from the Scottish Government to aid economic recovery efforts. Salmond offered

9398-531: The activities of the party in the constituency and acts as a point of liaison between an MSP or MP and the party. Constituency Associations are composed of delegates from all of the Branches within the constituency. The annual National Conference is the supreme governing body of the SNP and is responsible for determining party policy and electing the National Executive Committee. The National Conference

9525-401: The biggest party, winning a record number of councillors and securing majority control of Dundee . On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader and first minister. On 16 March 2023, it was revealed that the SNP's membership had fallen to 72,000, down from over 125,000 at the end of 2019. As a result of this, CEO Peter Murrell resigned on 18 March after criticism

9652-489: The constituency were composed entirely of michty fairmers then he might be the ideal candidate. But it isn't and he is not." Salmond gained the seat of Gordon with 47.7% of the vote, replacing the Liberal Democrat Malcolm Bruce as the constituency's Westminster MP . On 13 May 2015, Salmond was appointed as the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman in the House of Commons. He tweeted that the party would advocate

9779-422: The contest. Salmond went on to win the leadership election by 486 votes to Ewing's 146. His first test as leader was the general election in 1992 , with the SNP having high hopes of making an electoral breakthrough. Whilst considerably increasing its share of the vote, it failed to win a large number of seats. Sillars lost his, causing him to describe the Scottish people as '90-minute patriots'. This comment ended

9906-597: The daughter of Margaret Duncan and Henry Elms, a native of England. Salmond's middle names come from his family's tradition of naming their children after the local Church of Scotland minister, in this case Gilbert Elliot Anderson of St Ninian's Craigmailen Parish Church in Linlithgow. He remained a member of the Church of Scotland his whole life. From a young age, Salmond suffered very bad asthma . His parents were loving and caring and although he did not grow up poor, "money

10033-451: The ensuing general election , the party experienced a large drop in its support. Reduced to just 2 MPs, the successes of October 1974 were not to be surpassed until the 2015 general election . Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing 79 Group . Traditionalists within the party, centred around Winnie Ewing , by this time an MEP , responded by establishing

10160-498: The independence referendum. Salmond published his first programme for the Scottish Government following his re–election as first minister in September 2011. Entitled Renewing Scotland: The Government's Programme for Scotland 2011–2012 , Salmond set out a number of key commitments for the Scottish Government ahead of the parliamentary term. Salmond further pledged to continue the freeze of council tax across Scotland in order to establish

10287-468: The leadership in 2000 with John Swinney, like Salmond a gradualist , victorious in the ensuring leadership election. Swinney's leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in 2001 and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in 2003 despite the Officegate scandal unseating previous First Minister Henry McLeish . However, the only parties to gain seats in that election were the Scottish Greens and

10414-410: The line of 'we're going to take this seat, and we're going to take that seat'. Once it doesn't happen, it's very bad news for Ruth Davidson's credibility." On election night, Salmond lost his seat as member for Gordon to Colin Clark of the Conservatives , receiving 19,254 votes to the Conservatives' 21,861. This represented a swing of 20.4% away from Salmond, larger than the 14.4% swing to him from

10541-406: The most exposed countries to the consequences of rising sea levels. In September 2010, Salmond proposed legislation that would give Scottish Water powers to build "green" power stations, windfarms and hydropower schemes in cooperation and competition with existing energy companies. He stated that this would make Scotland the 'world's first hydro-economy'. Before the 2011 Scottish election ,

10668-495: The most votes in the area at the 2017 local council elections , prompting party leader Ruth Davidson to say on a visit to Inverurie that, "We won the local government election in Gordon this week, beating the SNP into second place. It means that in this seat, as in many others, it is a two-horse race between us and the nationalists." In response to Davidson's comments, Salmond riposted, "It's just arrogance, for Ruth Davidson to continue

10795-594: The occasion of the Kosovo Declaration of Independence . This majority enabled the SNP government to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. The "No" vote prevailed in a close-fought campaign, prompting the resignation of First Minister Alex Salmond . Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the "Yes" side receiving less support than late polling predicted. Exit polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested that many No voters thought independence too risky, while others voted for

10922-506: The only two fully paid-up members of the SNP at the university, they were duly elected president and treasurer. Although a left-winger at the time he joined, Salmond had considerable doubts as to whether or not the Labour Government would legislate for a devolved Scottish Assembly . Salmond started his political life as a committed left-winger inside the SNP and was a leading member of the socialist republican organisation within it,

11049-406: The parliaments existence, Salmond claimed that the majority obtained by the SNP was "a victory for a society and a nation", and later confirmed that an independence referendum would be held in the second half of the parliamentary term. Salmond in his 2010 New Year message highlighted the importance of sustainable development and renewable energy in Scotland and the required increase in powers of

11176-563: The party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform including Independence in Europe, reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of the then-EEC which had been unsuccessful in a 1975 referendum . This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaiming Glasgow Govan in a by-election in 1988. Despite this moderation, the party did not join Labour , the Liberal Democrats and

11303-406: The party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs. The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, with North East Scotland being gained at the 1994 European elections and the party securing a by-election at Perth and Kinross in 1995 after a near-miss at Monklands East the previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successful general election for 23 years, although in the face of

11430-411: The party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular ' Kosovo Broadcast' which opposed NATO intervention in the country. This meant that the party began as the official opposition in the parliament to a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government . Salmond found the move to a more consensual politics difficult and sought a return to Westminster, resigning

11557-516: The party taking its MEP total to three (or half of Scottish seats ) and achieving a record vote share for the party. This was also the best performance of any party in the era of proportional elections to the European Parliament in Scotland . This was suggested as being due to the party's europhile sentiment during what amounted to a single-issue election. Later that year, the SNP experienced

11684-425: The party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly at Glasgow Bridgeton in 1961, West Lothian in 1962 and Glasgow Pollok in 1967. This foreshadowed Winnie Ewing 's surprise victory in a by-election at the previously safe Labour seat of Hamilton . This brought

11811-435: The party to fight allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denied. In January 2019, he was charged with 14 offences, including attempted rape and sexual assault, but was awarded compensation of £500,000 by the Scottish Government in August 2019 and later acquitted of all charges after trial in March 2020. In 2021, he criticised Sturgeon for her government's flawed investigations into these allegations which resulted in

11938-544: The party to the Electoral Commission showed the SNP to have over 119,000 members in 2021. By the end of 2021, the party reported that this number was 103,884. Membership then continued to fall: to 85,000 at the end of 2022, and to 72,186 in March 2023. By the end of 2023, this had fallen to 69,325 and then to 64,525 by June 2024. Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( / ˈ s æ m ən d / SAM -ənd ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024)

12065-534: The party's accounts 2022 were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission. New auditors were appointed in May. Filing the party accounts in June 2023, the new auditors highlighted that they had not been able to find original records for some cash and cheques. Murrell was re-arrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. He later resigned his membership of the SNP. A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service spokesman confirmed that it received

12192-531: The party's annual conference of 1982, in Ayr , despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger of Jim Sillars' Scottish Labour Party (SLP) although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figure Gordon Wilson remained party leader through the electoral disappointments of 1983 and 1987 , where he lost his own Dundee East seat won 13 years prior. Through this period, Sillars' influence in

12319-550: The party's national conference in Perth on 14 November. Salmond submitted his resignation as First Minister to the Scottish Parliament and to the Queen on 18 November, and the formal selection of Sturgeon as his successor by the Scottish Parliament took place the following day. My time as leader is nearly over, but for Scotland, the campaign continues and the dream shall never die. On 7 December 2014, Salmond announced that he would stand as

12446-479: The party. On 29 March 2023, Yousaf was appointed First Minister of Scotland. On 18 April, his government published its policy prospectus titled "Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership – A fresh start" On 23 August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the SNP. On 12 October 2023, MP Lisa Cameron crossed the floor to join the Scottish Conservatives, ahead of counting

12573-399: The people of Scotland", admitting the party was not "winning the argument" on Scottish independence. In November 2024, the SNP announced a plan to reduce permanent paid staff at its headquarters from twenty-six to sixteen, a reduction of more than a third, in order to "protect the long-term finances of the party" before the next Scottish Parliament election. The pressure on the SNP's finances

12700-488: The political friendship between Salmond and Sillars, and Sillars would soon become a vocal critic of Salmond's style of leadership. The SNP increased its number of MPs from four to six in the 1997 general election , which saw a landslide victory for the Labour Party. After election, Labour legislated for a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh. Although still committed to a fully independent Scotland, Salmond signed

12827-581: The position of oil economist. While with the Royal Bank, he wrote and broadcast extensively for both domestic and international outlets. He also contributed regularly to oil and energy conferences. In 1983, Salmond created a "Royal Bank/BBC oil index" that is still used. Salmond became active in the SNP when he joined the Federation of Student Nationalists at the University of St Andrews in 1973. His conversion

12954-499: The public. He also claimed that Blair had made a pact with George W. Bush "to go to war come what may". After the June 2004 European Parliament elections , which were perceived as a "disaster" for the SNP, pressure mounted on Swinney to resign as leader. Swinney announced his resignation on 22 June 2004 to become Convener of the Scottish Parliament's European and External Relations Committee. On 15 July 2004, Salmond said that he would be

13081-418: The race and endorsed Swinney and on 5 May, Graeme McCormick claimed that he secured enough member votes for a nomination but then dropped out the same evening following a conversation with Swinney, ultimately endorsing him. During the campaign for the 2024 general election , the SNP was investigated by Holyrood authorities for allegedly misusing MSPs' expenses to fund their campaigning. An anonymous complaint

13208-478: The reality is that we will have to deal with more in the future. We must not allow terrorists to stop us from going about our lives as we always have – to do so would be to hand a victory to the men of terror." Salmond issued a statement regarding the attacks in Edinburgh , calling for "the need for vigilance and unity against the forces of terror and rightly praised the work of the emergency services". Salmond called

13335-468: The second largest party, with Salmond as the Leader of the Opposition . He was elected as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Banff and Buchan in that year's election. He resigned as leader in 2000 and stood down as an MSP the following year, when he was appointed leader of the SNP's Westminster group. Salmond was re-elected as leader of the SNP in the 2004 leadership contest , after running on

13462-596: The second of four children born to Robert Fyfe Findlay Salmond (1921–2017) and Mary Stewart Salmond (née Milne; 1922–2003), both of whom were civil servants . Robert Salmond, who served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War , had originally worked as an electrician, and his family had been resident in Linlithgow since the mid-18th century. Salmond's grandmother, Abigail Ireland, married Alexander Salmond, one of six children to Robert Dobie Salmond and Margaret Elms,

13589-473: The strengthened Conservative government ensured that the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. At the 2021 Scottish election , the SNP won 64 seats, one seat short of a majority, albeit achieving a record high number of votes, vote share and constituency seats, and leading to another minority government led by the SNP. Sturgeon emphasised after her party's victory that it would focus on controlling

13716-659: The support of the Greens, Salmond was elected by the Parliament to succeed Jack McConnell as First Minister of Scotland . The following day he received the Royal Warrant from the Queen and was officially sworn into office at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Under section 45(7) of the Scotland Act 1998 he became Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland at the same time. He was appointed to

13843-615: The time . Despite this, Salmond was heavily criticised in the media for describing Tony Blair 's decision to intervene militarily as an "unpardonable folly". Several years as party leader earned Salmond an unusually high profile for an SNP politician in the London-based media. In 1998, Salmond won the Spectator Award for Political Strategist of the Year. Following an appearance on the entertainment programme Call My Bluff , Salmond used one of

13970-536: The votes on her selection contest within the SNP for the 2024 United Kingdom general election . She became the first elected representative from the SNP to defect to a unionist party. Cameron claimed a "toxic and bullying" culture in the SNP led to her defection. On 15 October 2023, the SNP National Conference voted in favour of Yousaf's strategy on Scottish independence, including a number of amendments proposed from senior SNP representatives. This committed

14097-408: Was "confident" that there had been no use of any public money to support the SNP general election campaign. This investigation occurred amid SNP's financial struggles, falling membership, and the police investigation into alleged embezzlement. Despite a £128,000 bequest boosting their campaign, SNP spending was minimal compared to other parties. The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election,

14224-468: Was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Scottish National Party ( SNP ) on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He then served as leader of the Alba Party from 2021 until his death in 2024. A graduate of the University of St Andrews , he worked as an economist in

14351-479: Was attributed to a reduction in Short Money they receive following the 2024 general election, along with an increased reliance on membership fees over substantial donations. The local Branches are the primary level of organisation in the SNP. All of the Branches within each Scottish Parliament constituency form a Constituency Association, which coordinates the work of the Branches within the constituency, coordinates

14478-457: Was characterised by a moderation of his earlier left-wing views and by his firmly placing the SNP into a gradualist , but still pro-independence, strategy. Salmond was one of the few politicians in the UK to oppose the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. He was opposed to the conflict because it was not authorised by a United Nations Security Council resolution , which was a controversial subject at

14605-471: Was elected as the SNP's Vice Convener for Publicity. In 1987 he stood for Parliament in Banff and Buchan and defeated the incumbent Conservative MP, Albert McQuarrie . Later that year Salmond became Senior Vice Convener (Deputy Leader) of the SNP. He was at this time still viewed as being firmly on the left of the party and had become a key ally of Jim Sillars , who joined him in the House of Commons when he won

14732-555: Was elected leader in May 2024. In the 2024 general election , the SNP lost 38 seats, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland and the fourth-largest party in the Westminster Parliament. The party does not have any members of the House of Lords on the principle that it opposes the upper house of Parliament and calls for it to be scrapped. The SNP is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The SNP

14859-583: Was formed in 1934 through the merger of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party , with the Duke of Montrose and Cunninghame Graham as its first joint presidents. Alexander MacEwen was its first chairman. The party was divided on its approach to the Second World War . Professor Douglas Young , who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuse conscription and his activities were popularly vilified as undermining

14986-524: Was levied at him over the way the figures were published. Humza Yousaf was announced as the next Leader of the Scottish National Party on 27 March 2023 after winning the leadership election . Yousaf defeated challenger Kate Forbes in the final stage, with 52% of the vote to Forbes' 48%. The leadership election was dominated by the strategy for a second independence referendum and the Gender Recognition Reform Bill , which has divided

15113-556: Was not to last and by 1978 Labour revival was evident at three by-elections ( Glasgow Garscadden , Hamilton and Berwick and East Lothian ) as well as the regional elections . In 1976, James Callaghan 's minority government made an agreement with the SNP and Plaid Cymru . In return for their support in the Commons, the government would respond to the Kilbrandon commission and legislate to devolve powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales. The resulting Scotland Act 1978 would create

15240-423: Was published on 25 February 2010, setting out a two-question yes/no referendum, proposing further devolution or full independence. Opposition parties issued statements claiming that they would not support the draft bill for public consultation on the issue of independence. Following the 2011 Scottish Parliament election , in which the SNP won a majority of seats and forming the first majority Scottish Government in

15367-446: Was published on 26 November 2013. On 19 September 2014, following the results of the independence referendum which confirmed a majority of the Scottish people had voted against independence, Salmond announced that he would be resigning as First Minister in November 2014. On 15 October, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was the only candidate to stand for the leadership , and formally succeeded Salmond as SNP leader following

15494-437: Was reduced back to being a minority government at the 2016 election . In the 2021 election , the SNP gained one seat and entered a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens . In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced by Humza Yousaf . In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens and resigned the following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbent John Swinney

15621-421: Was reported that John Swinney's office manager had told an SNP staff WhatsApp group chat that "stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns". An SNP spokesperson confirmed the investigation and emphasized compliance with the rules, while John Swinney stated that he had been "assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes", adding that he

15748-579: Was sent to Alison Johnstone in which an individual claimed that stamps bought with expenses were given to Westminster election candidates for mailing leaflets. The complaint included a WhatsApp screenshot showing MSP staff discussing the traceability of the stamps. Parliamentary rules state that stationery and postage provided by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body "must be used only for parliamentary duties and must not be used for any other purpose, including party political purposes". It

15875-501: Was successful despite only having 47 of 129 seats in the Parliament. The vote was 49–46, with the SNP and Greens voting in favour and the 46 Scottish Labour MSPs voting against, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats abstaining. Salmond reduced the size of the Cabinet from nine members to six, and said he would seek to govern on a "policy by policy" basis. In order to concentrate on his new role as First Minister, Salmond stood down as

16002-526: Was tight" and the importance of education was emphasised in the family. Salmond was a skinny child, often referred to by his father as a "skink", as in Cullen Skink . Salmond was educated at Linlithgow Primary School , before attending Linlithgow Academy from 1966 to 1972. He studied at Edinburgh College of Commerce from 1972 to 1973, gaining an HNC in Business Studies , and was then accepted by

16129-522: Was to be the case until the 1973 by-election at Glasgow Govan where a hitherto safe Labour seat was claimed by Margo MacDonald . Nineteen seventy-four was to prove something of an annus mirabilis for the party, as it deployed its highly effective It's Scotland's oil campaign. The SNP gained six seats at the February general election before hitting a high point in the October re-run , polling almost

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