Former SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan defects to Alba party

Former SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan has resigned from the party to join Alex Salmond's Alba party.

She said her decision came after increasing disillusionment with the SNP's leadership and its "wavering commitment" to Scottish independence.

Ms Regan, 49, was elected as SNP MSP for Edinburgh Eastern at the last election and becomes the Alba party's first representative at Holyrood.

She came third in the SNP leadership contest won by Humza Yousaf in March.

The first minister said she should now do the "honourable thing" and step down as an MSP to allow a by-election.

Mr Yousaf said: "I can tell you categorically that the reason she's in that parliament is because she had the SNP logo next to her name on the ballot paper."

He told BBC Scotland she was "not a particularly great loss" to the party.

• MP Lisa Cameron defects from SNP to Conservatives

• SNP leadership contest: Who is Ash Regan?

Ms Regan received a standing ovation when she appeared on stage alongside Alex Salmond, after the surprise announcement was made at the Alba party conference in Glasgow.

Ms Regan said: "Sadly, it has become increasingly clear that the SNP has lost its focus on independence, the very foundation of its existence.

"I could not, in good conscience, continue to be part of a party that has drifted from its path and its commitment to achieving independence as a matter of urgency.

"I am proud to become the first Alba member of the Scottish Parliament. I do this with a clear focus on reinvigorating the cause of independence."

Mr Salmond, former first minister and Alba party leader, said: "I am delighted to welcome Ash Regan to team independence.

"Her commitment to the cause of Scottish independence has never been in question, and her addition to Alba sends a powerful message about the focus and determination we bring to achieving an independent Scotland."

Ms Regan was met with applause when she appeared on stage alongside Alex Salmond

In March, Ms Regan finished third behind Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf in a contest to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister.

Ms Regan, who had always been regarded as the outsider in the contest, tweeted her congratulations to winner Humza Yousaf at the time and urged everyone to "get behind Team SNP".

Her defection comes after MP Lisa Cameron announced last month that she had quit the SNP to join the Conservatives.

The East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow MP was facing a selection contest to remain as the SNP's candidate at the next general election but said she said she quit because of what she claimed was a "toxic" culture in the party's Westminster group.

'Increasingly divided SNP'

In 2021, Scotland's former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, who was elected as SNP MP for East Lothian, defected to the then newly formed Alba Party.

He was later joined by Neale Hanvey, who had been elected as the SNP MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath at the last Westminster election.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said Ms Regan's defection would be a blow to "Humza Yousaf's increasingly divided SNP".

He added: "He can't convince even his own senior MSPs to remain onside, even when he's abandoned all the normal duties of government to focus on independence."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "Sixteen years of command and control has come crashing down spectacularly as the SNP is hit by yet another defection.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "The SNP is falling apart, with the prospect of independence fading far into the distance there's nothing to hold their extreme factions together."

Ash Regan had developed a rebellious streak ever since she quit as a minister in Nicola Sturgeon's government over the gender reform bill.

She developed her own platform as part of her leadership campaign, and was not brought back into the fold by Humza Yousaf after his victory.

So party insiders might profess themselves to be unsurprised by her defection to Alba. After all, her leadership campaign was run by a former Alba strategist.

But it is a damaging moment nonetheless - perhaps even more so than the loss of Lisa Cameron to the Conservatives earlier this month.

The SNP is still clearly keen to be the dominant force in the campaign for Scottish independence. That will be a big part of their platform in the coming election.

And while Alba has not provided any real challenge to that in the two elections it has contested previously, with an MSP on the benches at Holyrood alongside two MPs at Westminster, Alex Salmond will feel his outfit can start to present itself as a real alternative.