Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party recruits more than 4,000 members in its first week – after poll put support at just three per cent
- Alba founder Laurie Flynn said the milestone was surpassed on Friday afternoon
- Party says membership figure gives it more supporters than Scottish Lib Dems
- But a recent survation poll found Alba will achieve only three per cent of vote
Alex Salmond has recruited 4,000 members to his Alba Party in the first week of its launch, despite recently being predicted to win only three per cent of the vote share.
Alba founder Laurie Flynn said the milestone was surpassed on Friday afternoon, with membership numbers now at 4,100.
According to the party, its membership figure gives it more supporters than the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
The party claims its recent swell of membership puts it ahead of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
The news comes after a Survation poll found that Alba is on track to win just 3 per cent of the votes on the regional list
The assertion is based on a listing of the party’s membership on its Wikipedia page, which shows numbers at 4,085 as of December 2018.
Mr Flynn said: ‘Little did I think when I founded the party the impact that it would have.
‘After exactly one week since our public launch, our membership has surged past that of the Liberal Democrats, a party which has been in existence for 150 years.’
However, the news comes after a Survation poll found that Alba is on track to win just 3 per cent of the votes on the regional list – which would leave the new party without a single seat.
It also showed that Mr Salmond is the most unpopular of Scotland’s mainstream political leaders, with 71 per cent of Scots viewing him unfavourably.
Despite this, Mr Flynn remained optimistic and added that Alba was ‘Scotland’s new political force’.
The Survation survey was done for newspaper publisher DC Thomson also found that more than half of those asked believed Mr Salmond was detrimental to the cause of independence.
On Thursday, the former first minister said his party’s membership figures are one of the reasons why it should be permitted into the leaders’ debates, and refused to rule out taking legal action if Alba was not invited.
The proportion who said they had a negative view of Mr Salmond was 71 per cent, with 56 per cent for Boris Johnson.
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice told The Courier newspaper: ‘The headline is that it looks as though it’s all over for Salmond, though he might just get a seat in the North-East himself.’
Deputy SNP leader Keith Brown said: ‘To ensure Nicola Sturgeon is the First Minister to lead us out of the pandemic, people need to give both votes to the SNP on May 6.’
An Alba spokesman said: ‘These early indications put Alba within touching distance of representation across Scotland. With five weeks still to go Alba’s support can only grow as we approach polling day.’