The Campaign Conference

A special report from the ALBA campaign Conference in Lochgelly. With impeccable timing, ALBA meets in conference as the election is about to be announced.

[Music] this is an exciting time in Scotland story and understanding our fast will help us determine our [Music] future I was Scotland voices have it charts the way [Music] forward this is Scotland speaks with Alex Ammon welcome to Scotland speaks with Alex Amon here at the Alba party campaign conference at the lelli center here in 5 at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning before the cup final football yes always before the football and today the Cup Final and we have a treat in store for you before you watch the football and that is to hear what some of our candidates who are whose names have been released today have got to say about their upcoming campaigns for the general election which is going to take place this year so let’s get into the enter a packed Auditorium and hear what the candidates have got to say so I’m ji I’m out to win Rand for Alba yay I think we have I think we have to be honest people are scunnered with politicians who promise the Earth and action on Independence and then betray their trust but the stay-at-home party must not be allowed to win this election instead we have to go out onto the doorsteps in our communities and inspire people Alba and only Alba is the party with the clear strategy the ambition and the experience to deliver Independence so let’s get out there and make Independence happen yes Jim good afternoon again conference it’s a huge privilege to been selected to stand as the candidate for the Livingston constituency in the upcoming general election I’m especially pleased that as a female candidate I get to stand for the only political party that’s put the rights and safety of women and girls at the heart of our agenda from the da reform since 2015 the people of Livingston have returned a pro-independence MP to no Avil what the constituency now needs is an Alba representative who can ensure that we end the empty rhetoric and start taking real tangible action steps to secure Independence hi thanks T I’m glad to be standing here here today as a candidate for broy fery and AR broth um thank you I want my constituents to have hope that there is a real alternative for good governance with politics that makes a difference and doesn’t enrich the political Elite or the cronies if we want independence it’ll be Alba that delivers and together we’ll have the Alba flag stamped on the political map finally I say to my constituents when no one can that’s when gazi can thank you done gazi please welcome Josh Robertson our candidate for a Jan shots Josh I’m absolutely delighted to be the candidate for the town that I’ve was born and raised in I’ll keep this brief I have three major campaign priorities the independence for Scotland Independence for Scotland and the Urgent independence of Scotland thanks thank you th I am absolutely honored to be your alipa candidate for the dundy central constituency I’m also very proud to have been the first ever Alba counselor H in the yes city of Dundee as well absolutely and and let me tell you I’m going to do my damnest to be the first alipa MP for dundy Central as well hope you’ve got a catch phrase Chris well unfortunately the only word I could think that rhms with Chris starts with a P so I’ll give it a pass H Chris melan Inver c will be standing in the Inver C in risher West constituency on behalf of Alaba party you know conference I did reflect and you know Alex salmon said this a lot better than I could on question time in regards to Rish sunak extremism comments earlier in the week that on had had actually take the UK government to court and established that Scottish independence was a philosophical belief wory of Respec in any Democratic Society so perhaps rashy sunak should check the law before he opens his mouth again I can say that my decision to stand for our party is a profound sense of Duty to the constituent which I’m representing which is at Glasgow Southwest by Alba party at my country Scotland most importantly today Albert party has demonstrated the sense of inclusivity unified and dynamic Scotland and what is independence ultimately about it’s about taking hold of that common Treasury and making it work for everyone so if we can demonstrate with a little bit of people power what a lot of people power can do that’s my plan that’s why I’m standing for Glasgow North political decisions matter to people’s lives and only with Independence can we make our own decisions and unlock Scotland’s true potential the promise of Independence once brought us hope yet a decade later there’s been little progress but that hope has been re reignited with the Alba party the only party with a credible strategy for Independence I’m Steve chisel as a born and bred Highlander I feel immensely privileged to be your Alpa candidate for K soland and Easter Ross un like some of my opposition who are being busted up from leam down in the south of the need for Independence has never been more urgent and only Independence can deliver the prosperous Equitable and sustainable Scotland we all desire and I’m standing because I’m fed up with the neglect our Highlands have faced from both the UK and the Scottish government our communities they deserve so much better our Coastline holds vast natural resources that are crucial for energy security and achieving Net Zero but it’s time we take charge my friends Independence is not merely a political goal it is a vision for a Scotland that is Stand Tall on the global stats we seek self-determination right to shape our destiny and the courage to forge our path let’s embrace our shared history celebrate diversity marched towards a Scotland that thrives independently I moved from England to Wales witnessed firsthand the decimation by England of De de-industrialization of that country close by to where I live near L was LW the cold Fields also the maritime harbors of Cardiff and Swansea I then moved to Scotland and witnessed the exactly the same Happening Here gra smouth is a Cornerstone of our campaign because it represents the message that we have to put out to Scotland that we can do better and we must reindustrialize this country to make a quality of life for our future and our future Generations the people who have represented Glasgow Northeast until now made incredibly vain promises that they would make a difference and they have done nothing absolutely nothing they promised to bring business business and industry to Glasgow Northeast no they didn’t they promised to improve the health of people in Glasgow Northeast no they didn’t and neither did they bring the kind of Housing and the kind of development that they promised what they have done is build lots of lots of cycle lanes and the investment in our area has gone down dramatically so I want to commit to dealing with the poverties of Glasgow Northeast but I know that can only be fully done when we are fully independent and fully in control of our own Sovereign resources to deal with the kind of poverty we’re not just talking about poverty of earnings we’re talking about poverty of Health Poverty of a a standard of living but the worst thing that afflicts people is the poverty of Hope and the poverty of aspiration and I will work very very hard to bring that back to Glasgow Northeast CU hope comes with Scottish independence thank you very much thank you Catherine this campaign in ela is liberating uh and I’m going to say it what I’ll be able for the first time in 25 years is to say with my hero John McLean forward to the Scottish workers Republic [Applause] conference your candidates [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome back to the Alba party campaign conference here from lelli Center in F in fact the home of Neil Han’s constituency now you’ve heard from some of our candidates let’s hear what some of our members had to say as they spoke to some of the very important motions at conference conference today I stand here not only as alas first elected representative of the Highlands but as an advocate for long overdue change for too long the highlands and Islands have suffered the consequences of neglect from those in power both in Westminster and in Hollywood and The Time for Action is now let’s address the elephant on the road the A9 members it’s not just a highway it’s a Lifeline for our communities yet despite prom made and Manifesto commitments declared the completion date has been literally kicked down the road again 65 countries have left the British Empire 18 of them have done so following an election no prime minister has ever called into question the result of an election overseen by the Electoral Commission in 2011 15 and 21 we were above the 50% threshold for pro-independence majority of votes votes let us put the instruction for Independence on the ballot the current situation is desperate and if we do not do everything in our power for an independent Scotland there will be very little left for us to defend no one element will take us to Independence but all the different strands United will Scotland United in action and I more widely I support your case for a Scottish energy policy that is sensible and based on science and on Common Sense and not driven by ideology and fanaticism because that there are people out there we know who they are I’m not going to name them who seem to be hellbent on destroying our industrial base and our cultural base Y and it’s not about the Scot of the distant future it’s about the Scotland of yesterday today and tomorrow let’s fight for that Scotland the Scotland of real people the Scotland that can deliver what Ordinary People need welcome back to Scotland speaks and let’s hear what you had to say about some of the previous episodes Don says very impressive Indie hero guest Deborah very knowledgeable spoke clearly and answered well Gobles gal says loving your invite to be on the show in an activist special interest slot great idea looking forward to seeing who avails themselves of it Bobby says enjoyed the conversation with Alex and Campbell gun could have been longer Morin says great interview with Deborah sn4 says another excellent episode thanks very much and finally gbl’s gal comes back on to say pure dead brilliant as indeed every episode has been big shout out for Turkish tea talks too what a worthwhile watch they are haven’t missed one either finally Taz and slange media what about the eyes have it on tour good for the general election times and for 2014 anniversary plus a great lead up to and into 2026 please well GBL scal I’ll have a think about it thank you very much indeed for your tweets messages and emails please do keep them coming in and we are now going to both head back into the auditorium where it’s time to hear from some of our setp speeches and our speakers Ken Masco Neil hanvey and Ash rean and later on we’ll be hearing from the man himself Alex sa so the arguments for retention of GRA mouth are clear it’s economically disastrous to close it throwing thousands of people into unemployment across not just greenmouth but the fourth Valley in central Scotland it’s environmentally foolish there are already 600 ship movements on the river fourth relas relateded to gr mouth bringing oil in or taking it out there were two tankers part of dear when I was walking around the harbor last night if you stop Refinery and you actually have to export everything to be refined and then bring it back in to store it before you transmit it around Scotland it won’t be 600 ship movements in and out and if people think there’s in issues with the environmental aspects of a Refinery believe believe you me thousands upon thousands of these ships spewing diesel not just on the fourth but on the CDE is much much worse and it’s also about energy security because we well know and the herald highlighted it just last week Russian oil is flooding into this country it’s being refined in India it’s being branded as Indian and it’s being imported this is a situation where many in the UK government and indeed opposition benches are talking about potential War something I’ll continue to oppose as I said earlier the last thing our humanity and Globe needs is a rush to World War I but there are sanctions imposed upon Russia maybe just maybe they should be imposing those sanctions dealing with those who are importing Russian oil branded and refined in India and not closing gra mouth refinery energy security matters now and energy Security will matter in years to come that’s why we’ve been running our campaign that’s why we’ve been working with the unions and with the shop stewards no other party is doing similar we need to mobilize though not just as I say individuals but mobilize across the country because this is Scotland’s resource it is our only Refinery and it must be retained it’s why after discussion with the shop stewards I’ve decided to seek the Alba candidature for greenmouth alawa [Applause] grin Mouse cannot be allowed to be another Union Nail in Scotland’s energy coffin no matter what anyone says oil and gas extraction will continue for decades yet and Scotland at the very least must retain our oil refinery employment and skill development if there’s to be any transition and further development and in this constituent a ston throw from where we are today is the h f ethylene plant at M morning and that plant is absolutely res uh uh rying on the skill sharing and recruitment opportunities that it depends on the uh engineering expertise that is available from the workers uh at gr mouth so it’s absolutely vital and the work that Kenny Masco and Ash rean have done alongside many other campaigners in the alip party to save gra mouth I raised the motion of no confidence in Patrick Harvey and within days the greens were out of government so it’s not just the quantity of your power but what you do with it never never underestimate how powerful ful Alba is in that Parliament and never underestimate the change that we can make there I stood up for the principle of competent government and within days the first Minister needed Alba to survive I offered an open door to Hamza on Independence and protection of Rights of women and children in order for him to take the time to stabilize his government leaving leadership decisions to the party members as it should be but conference the SNP sacrificed their first minister to crawl back to the greens to avoid facing our open door and with a but house back door deal replacing hza it was then very clear that the government would survive a vote of no confidence because the greens had shown that their only red lines were power and ideology [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] water is life but not all water is equal our water ionizer restructures and alkalizes water for Optimum hydration and [Music] detoxification recreating the planet’s ultimate water sources found in lightning struck lakes and newly melted ice [Music] birds H2 Pure Source change your water change your life now instead of doing monologue to camera you’re going to hear my speech here at the L gy Center in front of the alipa campaign conference and as we turn to hear Alex’s speeech you’ll see that his introduction something along the lines of Alex is in the building well he is but for now it’s time for us to say goodbye and from all of our delegates here at the Lo Elli Center in F we shall see you next week before the football bye for now [Applause] bye you were involved in the nationalization of that yard no I I I I was involved in Saving the yard and a private business took over the yard the nationalization yard was 4 years later I mean you know there many people like me who looking back over the last 20 years that get my dates mixed up Douglas you you’re meant to be on the spot and on the ball two parliaments that be quite exhausting back forward uh so new initiatives and new ideas are needed and certainly one that puts the initiative back into the hands of the Scottish Parliament it should be one that everybody welcomes and fact that Ash is putting forward the bill should not stop anybody who’s interested in Scottish independence signing up to it in 2014 Scotland was 4% ahead of our Greenhouse targets with 6 years to spare we were 4% ahead of our 2020 tet and the reason for that is we’ve made big moves principally in the production of renewable energy huge moves forward so if you if you bring on stream the the largest onshore wind fan in Europe then that has a big impact on your Greenhouse targets I I don’t think the SNP have lost its way because of a concentration on Independence I think they’ve lost their way on Independence which after all they won an election on a mandate to get another referendum to decide the independence question well there has been a preoccupation in recent years with uh well things like self-identification for example and a lot of the Parliamentary battles and arguments have been over that very very divisive subject and that hasn’t it seemed to me left enough time to concentrate on the things that matter the things that matter to the the people of Scotland that that we’ve listed but but also the things that should matter to any Scottish Nationalist and that’s making Independence a priority halfast 7 was morning Hamza yusf described the suggestions we made as eminently reasonable if it had been left to Hamza YF then he would have come to an accommodation with alipa but of course it’s not he he bent to pressure from some of the old guard in the S SMP who were Furious that he was contemplating doing a deal Alex seron is in the building would you like to come in Alex thank you very much for joining us so Madame chair fellow extremists well you got to say I mean I was a bit annoyed by the affronter you know of rich boy sunic addressing a movement whose Democratic constitutional decency has been its outstanding feature over the last century in the way that he did I mean I was thinking myself that billionaire hip squeak has got more money than SS 10 years ago exactly 10 years ago to the day almost another Tory prime minister took his cabinet to the Oil and Gas and energy city of Aberdine I was having a cabin the same day in uh in Stone Haven so we’re both in the northeast of Scotland and 10 years ago the message to Scotland from that Tor prime minister as he saw the poll starting to shift towards independence was allog together different from the arrogance dismissal of RI sunak what David camon said was we know you don’t like us but you mustn’t judge your vote on the Constitutional question and the fact you don’t like the Tory party we really like you we know that you’re are a nation an ancient honorable nation and you’ve got the absolute right to exercise self-determination but we would really like you to stay with us in the union because we respect you so much that was 10 years ago when Scotland held political power 10 years later the new Tory prime minister equates us with terrorists and every bogey man he can conjure up the moral of the story of course is you should never let the T party get their foot at your neck because you’ll pay for it if you do and what we’ve got to understand is why that transition has happened over these last 10 years who has allowed Scotland to go from a position of power to a position of powerlessness who has allowed Scotland to be from being treated as an equal partner in the United Kingdom to some subjugate province that can be insulted with impunity and the answer doesn’t lie in Westminster it lies here in Scotland we have thankfully the people who are going to turn this situation around I I’ve been listening backstage to the contributions you know we’ve got uh 18 Scottish Champions who are going to be taking Scotland’s cause to the people let’s give them the support that they deserve I’ve known Kenny for a long time we were grow up together in the ol livo in the shadow of the gr mouth Refinery no one has better credentials than he to take that matter of Defense of that Refinery to the people because of the position of weakness that Scotland is now in we need to find a way to end the long serious of surrender humiliation capitulation in Scottish society and if there’s one campaigner who can bring about that turning point I tell you it’s Kenny Masco Kenny today no sooner had he made his announcement than he’s attacked by John Nicholson on Twitter what was that thing about being attacked by dead sheep John Nicholson in Twitter says it’s Dreadful that Ken mcal is going to be standing against him at the election I’ll tell you something John Nicholson’s not worried about grouth he’s never even been there John Nicholson is worried about his comfortable pension in the House of Commons and our message is stand aside and make way for a real Member of Parliament who’ll defend the working people of Scotland Dr gasan abisa Dr abisa is the director of Glasgow University he’s one of the top reconstructive surgeons in the world he he works uh the street next door to Harley Street when I interviewed him in his lavish office but that man has volunteered many times uh to go to Gaza and to other trouble spots in the Middle East and just Before Christmas he wasn’t operating in the opulence of Harley Street he was operating in Gaza in hospitals with the bombs raining down he was performing life-saving amputations on children with no anesthetic and he described and I commend you to look at that program he decided to me in absolute detail of what it was like to operate in somebody who was suffering from white phosphorus burs white phosphorus is an illegal weapon it doesn’t burn like a normal burn it gets right inside some and burns from the inside out when Dr abusa was uh operating as soon as the phosphorus is exposed to the air it catches a light again inside the patient remember we know anesthetic there has to be somebody there with water to pour water on the the operating wound to try and stop it catching a light and doing further damage to the B no human being could listen to that evidence without being shocked appalled and stricken with the situation in Gaza now we passed today an excellent motion on that subject but let me just say I look forward to the day that benjam netu appears before the inter National Tribunal for wild crimes in the H and every other guilty leader involved in that conflict in the 2014 referendum people said many things of Independence oh you’ll never work the currency won’t do this you won’t get into Europe blah blah blah and all the rest of it not one campaigner against Independence said you can’t run the Scottish Parliament because they couldn’t say it because the record was obviously clearly there for the people to see and judge now we have to inherit and reverse the situation where over the last few years the SNP and greens have left us in the situation we’re going to have to show and demonstrate that we can run this country with a level of competence and then I think we should turn to the the question of energy as we’ve heard throughout this conference and it’s going to be the running thread of our election campaign that we have a historic opportunity not to be allowed to be repeated the same mistakes of the last half century in oil and gas but to make sure that the new Green Revolution the renewable Revolution the endowment of a second generation of energy resources is not lost to the people of Scotland but you know there are people who expect Scotland to produce energy but take none of the benefits they think Scotland is a convenient Powerhouse for England for Europe as long as the benefits are felt by International capital and the United Kingdom government so it’s for this party to lay down terms and conditions firstly on Renewables every single offshore Wind Farm should have a guaranteed public share for the Scottish people every single one there should be a presumption that all work all the tens of billions of pounds spent the presumption should be that work should be carried out in Scotland thirdly there should be a share for the communities where the resource wealth and electricity is to be landed and fourthly that the transmission lines presumption should be that they’re underground why an F should any community in Scotland accept the impact on our environment if it’s to be run by International Energy companies domestic energy companies under the way of the UK government and the great revenues once again disappearing into the mall of the Westminster ex Jacker it ain’t going to happen the second time round we have a campaigning issue on Scottish energy and a symbol of grouth Refinery that combines the economic and social imperative with the Constitutional objective of Scottish independence why should Scots allow private utility companies free reain to place vast pons in the absence of any secure and National Community stake in the energy industry well let me tell you this those who think that Scotland is going to be a soft touch again for international Capital had better think again alipa is coming those in the Scottish Parliament those mediocrities who think their ministerial jobs are safe i’ better think again alipa is coming and wish sheight Siria stama confident that have seen off Scotland had better think again because alipa is coming to reestablish Scotland’s Independence campaign as the natural party of Independence supporters in Scotland thank you very [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] much this is an exciting time in Scotland story and understanding our past will help us to DET terine our [Music] future and when Scotland voice is heard it charts the way forward [Music] this is Scotland speaks with Alex salmon [Music]