Former Alba official threatens legal action over dismissal as new leader elected

The former general secretary of the Alba Party has said he is taking legal action against his dismissal, just minutes after the pro-independence party elected its new leader.

The divisions in the party were apparent at an event in Edinburgh where Kenny MacAskill narrowly won the vote to succeed Alex Salmond, who launched Alba four years ago.

His opponent and the party’s sole MSP Ash Regan, who secured 1,212 votes to Mr MacAskill’s 1,331, declined to give a speech after the announcement and left the hall.

Former MP Neale Hanvey defeated Chris McEleny to win the party’s deputy leadership.

Taking questions from journalists, the former East Lothian MP said he is confident his party can win a “breakthrough” at next year’s Holyrood election and will seek to galvanise the “debilitated” pro-independence movement.

He said: “What I will seek to do, what the Alba Party will seek to do, is to work with that wider movement who are not in any political party – that movement exists and what took us close to victory in 2014 was the broad-based public campaign in housing estates, housing schemes the length and breadth of Scotland.”

Asked about the divisions within Alba, he denied the contest had been “rumbustious” and said the debate had been respectful, saying the decisions around Mr McEleny will be taken by the national executive and that he had recused himself.

He spoke to journalists shortly after the announcement, saying he had been dismissed as general secretary by an “unfair and unlawful process”.

Mr McEleny said: “That makes me sad, certainly if Alex Salmond was still here this would never have happened.

“Unfortunately now I will be going to employment tribunal against the party that I helped create and I did run for several years.

“That’s not something I want to happen but unfortunately that’s the actions of Kenny MacAskill and others that have forced me into this.”

The former general secretary said his dismissal came after gross misconduct allegations which he described as “ludicrous”, urging the party to take part in a conciliation process before any tribunal begins and implying it does not have the funds to fight any legal action.

Following Mr McEleny’s remarks, new party leader Mr MacAskill said he was “unaware of any action being initiated against us”.

Mr Hanvey was elected to replace Mr MacAskill as depute leader of the party, winning 77.8% of votes cast to the 22.2% which went to Mr McEleny.

The winners of both posts defected from the SNP to Alba when sitting as MPs in 2021, days after Mr Salmond founded the party.