Alex Salmond launches bid for vast tactical vote in favour of Scottish independence

Former first minister brands casting a second vote for the SNP ‘ridiculous posturing’, doubling down on a tactic which led to the historic Holyrood election of the UK’s first Green Party parliamentarian in 1999, Andy Gregory reports

Alex Salmond claimed “the Yes campaign of the summer of 2014 is now reborn in political form in the ranks of Alba” (Peter Summers/Getty Images)

Alex Salmond has intensified his somewhat unusual tactic of seeking to attract only secondary “list” votes in the upcoming Holyrood elections, describing such ballots cast for the SNP as the “ultimate wasted votes”.

Addressing candidates at his new Alba Party’s first online conference, the former first minister of Scotland claimed that any independence supporters who give their list vote to his successor Nicola Sturgeon’s party would be guilty of “ridiculous posturing”.

The comments appear to mark something of an escalation in Mr Salmond’s rhetoric as he seeks to “game” the Holyrood voting system – in the words of Ms Sturgeon – by fielding only regional list candidates, with the purported aim of seeking a “supermajority” for independence, claiming to be therefore “helping” the SNP.