Former SNP MP to stand for Alba Party in Lothian East at next General Election

A former SNP MP is set to stand for election for the Alba Party at the upcoming General Election. A UK vote is expected later this year and George Kerevan will stand for Alex Salmond's pro-independence party in the new Lothian East seat.

Kerevan was elected to the old East Lothian seat in 2015, but lost to Labour's Martin Whitfield in the snap 2017 general election. He swapped the Nats for Alba in 2021, saying he felt the SNP had let independence be dropped as a priority.

Alba want to keep the question of Scotland splitting from the UK at the forefront of Scottish politics, with seeking a mandate for independence fought as the key issue at every election.

And Kerevan is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill as Alba MPs. They both changed allegiances to the party from the SNP after being elected - though Hanvey was suspended from the Nats at the time he won in 2019.

The Lothian East hopeful, who has worked as a journalist, an economist and a political commentator, said: "Kenny MacAskill deserves much credit for the work he has done in the Constituency.

"He has a big role still to play in standing up for Scotland and I am sure he will have more to say on that later today.

"Alba are now the only party with a credible strategy to deliver independence. When we get a majority we must not go to London and say ‘please’.

"If Westminster says ‘No’ then as we have unleashed Scottish Sovereignty at the ballot box we say that the people of Scotland have expressed their vote, they’ve expressed their sovereignty and then we will take our independence.”

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