Alex Salmond’s political career has ended in ignominy, again. The Alba Party, which the former First Minister launched six weeks ago, has not secured enough of the regional list vote share to win a seat in the Scottish parliament. Salmond has not been able to secure a route back to political office, and his new party looks likely to disappear without a trace.
Nicola Sturgeon has more than one reason to be happy with this result. It means that her party has avoided the electoral damage that some feared Alba might wreak (if not by directly winning votes off the SNP, then by making the independence movement look distracted and divided), and that her former mentor has been denied the political comeback he wanted, and will be unable to act as a thorn in her side from the Holyrood benches.
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