Alex Salmond will not stand in general election

Alba Party leader Alex Salmond has confirmed he will not stand in the upcoming general election.

Instead he plans to stand for election to the Scottish Parliament in 2026 in the Banff and Buchan Coastal seat, which is currently held by SNP MSP Karen Adam.

There had been speculation he could potentially stand as an MP following the surprise planned return to Westminster politics of Nigel Farage.

For the general election, Mr Salmond said Alba was aiming to stand in 20 seats in Scotland and will support independent Angus Brendan MacNeil in Na h-Eileanan an lar, who was a former SNP MP.

No other leaders of the main Scottish parties plan to stand in the UK-wide general election.

Candidate nominations close on Friday and a full list of those standing in the election will be available on the BBC website.

This will be the Alba party's first time contesting a general election after it was formed three years ago.

Until the general election was called, it had two MPs - but both were elected under the SNP banner.

Speaking to journalists in London, Mr Salmond confirmed his party would launch its general election campaign on Friday and the manifesto will be published during the week beginning 24 June.

Candidates will include former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and former Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, who is now the Alba party's general secretary.

When asked if Alba would split the independence vote and help Labour in Scottish seats, he said that would not be the case and the party would "mobilise" independence voters.

He said a vote for Alba would be an "unambiguous" vote for independence.

Alex Salmond, party chairwoman Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and the party's candidate in the upcoming election Chris McEleny spoke to reporters in London

But Mr Salmond said he did not relish predictions the SNP could lose seats at the election.

"Each and every election should be used as a ballot box test for Scottish independence, looking for a majority of the votes at each and every national electoral test," he said.

"We don't believe that the SNP strategy of asking the incoming prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to hold a Scottish independence referendum is entirely credible - in fact, we think it's incredible."

First minister and SNP leader John Swinney stressed his belief in independence at the SNP's general election campaign launch on Sunday.

Any rumours that Alex Salmond might stand in this election as a candidate for his party Alba have been well and truly squashed, writes Rajdeep Sandhu, Political Correspondent.

I had been told beforehand that he'd been thinking about it. Now he says he’s not interested in Westminster - been there, done that.

For him it's all about Holyrood in 2026 for the Alba party.

He'll be standing as a candidate in that election in Banffshire and Buchan Coast and says he has high hopes of having 20 MSP and getting into an independence coalition.

Those are very high hopes indeed, given that at the moment they only have one in Ash Regan who defected from the SNP.

Mr Salmond told reporters about his ambitions to secure 15% of the vote and 20 seats at the Holyrood election in 2026.

He said the Scottish Parliament elections were his "priority" and criticised the first TV debate of the general election for failing to mention Scotland.

"The fact that this is the case when the SNP currently is the third biggest party in the Westminster parliament is quite extraordinary and I'm afraid it's a signpost to that party's failure to impose Scotland onto the Westminster political debate," he said.

He said the Alba Party believed in granting new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, an issue that Scottish party leaders clashed on during a TV debate on Monday night.

Under Alba Party proposals, carbon capture would be a condition of obtaining such licences.

Mr Salmond said the tax rate on oil and gas licences should not be increased and jobs would be saved by not cutting investment allowances.

The party would also push for a public share of at least 15% in every major offshore windfarm.

Mr Salmond said an independent Scotland under the Alba Party would apply for immediate entry into the European Free Trade Association with an aim to eventually re-enter the European Union.

And he said Alba would protect the rights of women and girls "in the face of moves to enforce gender self-identification which involves a sacrifice of women's protected spaces."