Alba Party Rishi Sunak billboard rejected as 'slander'

Media giant Global has rejected a political party's billboard in a row over a cartoon of the prime minister.

The firm said the Alba Party advert - featuring a vampire-like image of Rishi Sunak feeding off Scottish oil - would not run because it "slandered" him.

The poster reads: "No wonder he's laughing. He's got Scotland's oil."

But Alba has pointed out it was inspired by an SNP poster from the 1980s featuring a similar cartoon of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

In an email rejecting the artwork, which has been seen by the BBC, Global said: "The only political messages we allow to run are basic messages such as vote for us, but not when a party is slandering someone."

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Alba general secretary Chris McEleny said: "If a company accepts political advertising we are entering a potentially dangerous place if they then want to pick and choose which political messages it supports and which it wishes to censure because it doesn't agree with them.

"In a democratic society, a political message that criticises the government of the day and the way it squanders resources is completely legitimate."

He compared Global's decision with the row over Nigel Farage's "de-banking" by Coutts.

The former leader of the UK Independence Party had his account closed by the prestigious private bank but a backlash over the move saw the boss of Coutts and its owner Natwest resign.

"There are parallels here to banks picking and choosing who can bank with them, advertising companies would do well to remember how that saga ended up," Mr McEleny said.

Alba said the poster was designed to show that it was now the only party that believed in both Scottish independence and the future of North Sea oil.

The Scottish National Party supports transitioning to greener energy resources and has pledged funding for projects contributing towards the move to net zero.

The poster design, which is also being used on leaflets, was criticised by Scottish Conservatives. MSP Murdo Fraser said it was "distasteful".

He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "This is where Scottish politics is in 2023, our first Asian heritage prime minister being depicted in this way. More than a little distasteful."

But Alba Party chairwoman Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh replied: "Of course anyone who knows anything about Scottish politics would recognise this as an interesting update of a poster from the highly successful 'It's Scotland's Oil' campaign - originally devised about Margaret Thatcher.

"Nothing to do with colour, all to do with substance."

Global has been approached for comment.