Ash Regan, former SNP leadership candidate, has announced her resignation from the party and her intention to join Alex Salmond’s Alba party. According to Alba, Regan’s decision came after her growing disillusionment with the SNP’s leadership and its lack of a clear and committed path towards Scottish independence. Regan, 49, had been elected as an SNP MSP for Edinburgh Eastern in the previous elections. However, she becomes Alba’s first representative at Holyrood after joining the party.
Regan finished third behind Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf in a contest held in March to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister. After leaving the SNP, Regan tweeted that she had become increasingly concerned by her former party’s lack of focus on independence, which she saw as the critical foundation of the party’s existence. She stated that she would not be able to stay with a party that had lost its way and was no longer committed to achieving Scottish independence as an urgent matter.
Alex Salmond, the former First Minister and Alba Party leader, praised Regan, saying that her addition to Alba is a strong sign of the determination and focus the party brings to achieving Scottish independence. This announcement comes after Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s former justice secretary, defected to the newly-formed Alba Party in early 2021, followed by Neale Hanvey, the SNP MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in the previous Westminster election.
Regan’s defection is seen as a blow to Humza Yousaf, who leads an increasingly divided SNP. Scottish Conservative Chairman Craig Hoy MSP believes that Yousaf is struggling to keep his party’s senior members on his side, especially as he continues to concentrate on independence while neglecting his normal government duties. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie has called this moment a spectacular crash of “16 years of command and control” within the SNP. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton sees the defection as proof that the SNP is falling apart and that there is nothing holding its extreme factions together
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