ALBA leader Kenny MacAskill has insisted Westminster will not ignore an electoral mandate for independence.
The former MP told BBC Good Morning Scotland that the 2026 Holyrood elections should be used as a mandate for negotiating independence, rather than calling for another referendum.
The former justice secretary was elected earlier this week to lead the pro-independence party following the death of Alex Salmond in October last year.
MacAskill narrowly defeated MSP Ash Regan to the top job earlier this week, and will now serve in the role with former MP Neale Hanvey as his deputy.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Friday, MacAskill said supporters of independence must recognise that “the referendum is not coming about”.
He continued: “What we have to do is to use the Holyrood elections in May 2026 as a mandate for negotiating independence.
“Not to request a referendum, but to say that the Scottish people were given a democratic right and have voted for independence.”
Asked what would happen if the Westminster Government said no, he said: “Well, Westminster has always accepted the democratic right of the Scottish people.”
He said Margaret Thatcher had adopted this position and he did not believe any Prime Minister would “block the democratic will of the Scottish people”.
Asked what would change after the Holyrood election, he said: “I think, first and foremost, those in the lead in the Scottish Government have to stop putting their foot on the brake
“Under Nicola Sturgeon, there was just no drive to move it forward. That should have been done.
“We should have had a convention back in 2020 when she first said there would be one.
“But what we have to do now is to recognize that the referendum is not coming about. So what we have to do is to use every election that's possible to get a mandate for independence.”
It was put to the Alba leader that his leadership victory came after he won only 1331 votes to Regan’s 1212.
The former East Lothian MP said his party would seek to mobilise the “wider independence movement”.
“We’re going to move forward with a clean sheet of paper,” he said.
“We will work with all parties and all individuals in the wider independence movement. What we have to recognize is that there are many more people in the independence movement that are not in any party.
“They're not in the SNP, they're not in the Alba, they've just been foot soldiers. Many of them have been debilitated because of, as you say, and in fighting and actions that have taken place, and indeed, the lack of action.
“The job of Alba party is to mobilize that spirit that we had in 2014 that we can get again, that is necessary to ensure that Scotland benefits from its huge natural resource.
“There is something far wrong that a country that has so much opportunity and so much natural wealth has so many people now having further austerity forced up on it.
“We were told things would change in 2024 and the only change is that the Labour Government has morphed austerity.”
Asked if John Swinney is the man to deliver independence, MacAskill told the broadcaster: “No, I think it's for the Scottish people to make that decision.”
Following the leadership announcement in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Regan declined to give a speech and defeated deputy leader candidate Chris McEleny threatened legal action over his earlier dismissal as general secretary.
McEleny said his removal from the role was “unlawful”.
