Alex Salmond blasts SNP 'incompetence' for holding back Scottish independence

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Alex Salmond has blamed SNP "incompetence" in government for holding back the cause of Scottish independence.The former first minister also warned there was no immediate path to a second referendum after Nicola Sturgeon pursued an "ill-fated, kamikaze" Supreme Court case on the issue.SNP ministers vowed in 2022 to push ahead with an IndyRef2 only for judges to rule Holyrood did not possess the legal powers to stage such a vote without prior Westminster approval.

Salmond described Sturgeon's decision to seek a judicial review as an "ill-starred, ill-fated, kamikaze venture to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom" that was "just ludicrous from start to finish".Asked if he saw a way a second vote on independence could be held, Salmond said: “No, not immediately.”He said the Scottish Government’s performance in recent years had “hindered independence”.Asked if devolution had helped or hindered the cause he has championed throughout his political career, Salmond said: “It helped independence when the SNP were a competent government.“Obviously it has hindered independence when the SNP became an incompetent government in more recent years.”Salmond left the SNP and in the run up to the 2021 Holyrood elections launched the rival pro-independence Alba Party.He said there were a “litany of demonstrations of incompetence” by his successors in government, citing delays to the construction of two new ferries to service lifeline routes to the islands of Scotland’s west coast as one example.The Alba leader said his former party had been “diverted into the highways and byways of identity politics” instead of “worrying about health, education, housing, transport, finishing the A9 and so on”.Salmond spoke out before it was revealed John