Alba vs the Greens

I've seen many people ask the question "Why do we need Alba, with the Greens we already have two Independence supporting parties, so surely we should vote for the established Greens"

There are a few problems with this idea.

Firstly the SNP argue that only an SNP majority will be recognised by Boris Johnson, even though Boris Johnson says that wouldn't even be enough.

This is because the Greens are primarily a party who's focus is on environmental issues. Independence is secondary and only as a means to further environmental issues.

So any votes the Greens get can be called into question, did they get those votes to protect the environment or in support of Independence - nobody knows.

The next issue is the Greens support for the SNP. 

When it comes to Independence they have always supported the SNPs tactics and policies on Independence. 

When what would be more effective is a proactive Independence supporting opposition that makes the SNP work for their status as an Independence party.

There is also the issue of the Greens standing against the SNP in 12 constituencies in the forthcoming election. To many, that calls into question their commitment to Independence and to an indy majority in Holyrood.

The final issue which makes the Greens unsuitable as a supermajority partner for Independence in Holyrood is divisive policies.

Now I'm not going to get into the argument on gender reform or any other policies because the rights and wrong on these matters are irrelevant to this article.

The point is that the attraction for many Alba supporters (and previously list only parties) was to get away from and oppose those policies.

So for those people switching to another party with the same or similar policies just doesn't make any sense, so it won't happen.

Those people, without an alternative, would, in a likelihood, either not vote at all, only vote SNP on one of the ballots or vote SNP on both ballots - but never likely to switch to the Greens for their list vote.

That brings us to the reasons why Alba is a real alternative.

Firstly it has been set up as an Independence party, so has equal status in any argument regarding the legitimacy of votes cast for them as the SNP. It cannot be denied that Alba votes are votes for Independence.

In fact, it may be arguable that Alba votes are more legitimate than SNP votes, because they are a party that, unlike the SNP, is not standing on the ability or record to govern, or indeed with any goal to govern Scotland.

Secondly, Alba will challenge and push the ruling SNP government to achieve Independence rather than just passively support Independence efforts, however ineffective, like the Green party does.

Thirdly, many Alba voters were previously talking of spoiling ballots or just not voting because the consciences couldn't stomach voting SNP. With Alba, the SNP are getting many of those lost votes back on the constituency.

Finally, this could be the last chance. Boris Johnson and Gove could close down or neuter the Scottish Parliament in this upcoming parliamentary term.

The only way to truly protect our parliament is Independence. The SNP and Greens have wasted mandates for indyref 2. They would not have got away with that with a strong Alba opposition in Holyrood.

To conclude, don't let the Greens split the Independence vote on both the constituency and the list.

What we need is as many MSPs from parties whose primary reason for existence is Independence. No one party is capable of achieving a supermajority on its own, the system prevents it.

Vote SNP 1 Alba 2