Alliance to Liberate Scotland

Alliance to Liberate Scotland is a pro-Scottish independence political party that was founded in 2025.^[2] The group campaigns for Scottish independence and has sought to coordinate candidates from several smaller pro-independence parties and activists ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

The alliance is associated with the broader Liberate Scotland coalition, which brings together groups including the Independence for Scotland Party, Sovereignty and Independents for Independence in an effort to promote independence through electoral participation and grassroots campaigning.

The organisation describes itself as a single-issue movement focused on achieving Scottish independence and argues that representatives elected under its banner should prioritise constitutional change above other policy areas.

The Alliance to Liberate Scotland emerged in 2025 as part of a broader initiative to unite smaller pro-independence organisations under a common electoral platform. The initiative was linked to the Liberate Scotland campaign, which sought to coordinate activists and smaller political parties in the independence movement.

Supporters of the initiative argued that cooperation between smaller independence groups could help increase representation for pro-independence candidates and provide an alternative political platform to the larger independence parties already represented in the Scottish Parliament.

In February 2026, the Alliance to Liberate Scotland was registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission.

The alliance announced plans to stand candidates in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, working alongside other pro-independence organisations including the Independence for Scotland Party and Sovereignty.

On 12 March 2026, several prominent pro-independence figures announced their defections from the Alba Party after it was announced that the party would deregister following a financial and leadership crisis.

Some of the candidates who intended to stand as Alba candidates announced they would stand for ALS, including former Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan and his wife Gail Sheridan, both of whom defected from Alba, and former British diplomat Craig Murray, who left Your Party to stand as the ALS candidate in Edinburgh Central against SNP incumbent Angus Robertson.^[1][3]

The developments quickly triggered internal tensions within the new party. Allan Petrie, a founding member of ALS and its press officer who had been expected to stand in Dundee City East, resigned in protest at Murray’s selection, criticising what he described as political opportunism and citing disagreements over Murray’s stance on gender recognition. Petrie stated the party had become “the same old party politics we set out to challenge”. Murray rejected the criticism, arguing that standing for ALS was unlikely to advance a political career but would provide a platform to argue for Scottish independence, and said debates on issues such as gender recognition should take place after independence had been achieved.^[4]

On 15 March 2026, further tensions emerged when the Independence for Scotland Party announced it would withdraw from the Alliance to Liberate Scotland and contest elections under its own name. In a statement, the party said the alliance had originally been formed on the basis of unity, mutual respect and democratic decision-making among participating groups, but claimed that after ALS formally registered as a political party earlier in 2026, decisions on candidate selection and electoral strategy were increasingly being taken without consultation with other stakeholders. The party’s executive stated that the breakdown in trust and concerns about internal democracy had led its candidates to unanimously withdraw from the alliance and stand independently.

The Alliance to Liberate Scotland presents itself as a single-issue independence movement, focusing primarily on Scottish independence rather than a comprehensive domestic policy programme.^[5]

The organisation has stated that it would not operate a traditional party whip system and that elected representatives would vote according to their conscience on most policy issues, except on matters related to achieving independence.

The Alliance to Liberate Scotland announced its intention to contest the 2026 Scottish Parliament election as part of a wider coalition of pro-independence candidates associated with Liberate Scotland.