New indy party’s links to unionist far-right

A new pro-independence party which counts ex-Alba politicians Tommy Sheridan and Craig Murray among its election candidates has links to the ultra-unionist far-right, Heckle can reveal.

The Alliance to Liberate Scotland (ALS), launched in 2025 and formally registered as a political party in February 2026, initially united three fringe parties: the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP), Independents 4 Independence (I4I), and Sovereignty, previously known as Restore Scotland. It has now absorbed significant parts of the Alba Party, which has gone spectacularly bust following founder Alex Salmond’s death. Since its launch, ALS has fractured with the ISP’s withdrawal last weekend.

All of ALS’ current and former constituent parts are influenced by reactionary politics to varying degrees, sharing in particular a strong hostility to transgender rights. However, Sovereignty and at least one of its leading figures also have historic and current links to the British far-right and anti-migrant street politics, which have apparently gone unnoticed within the wider independence movement.

Sovereignty’s dodgy links

Dr Alan McManus, the Sovereignty candidate for the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth constituency and the Alliance to Liberate Scotland’s lead candidate on the Central Scotland regional list, is a regular attendee and speaker at rallies organised by A Force for Good (AFFG), the ultra-unionist campaign group which regularly stages counter-demos to independence marches and rallies.

AFFG was founded and is led by Alistair McConnachie, a former Scottish organiser for UKIP prior to his expulsion for Holocaust denial in the early 2000s. A long-standing climate change sceptic, McConnachie stood in the 2021 Holyrood election alongside two former members of the neo-Nazi British National Party (BNP) under the label “Independent Green Voice”, which may have cost the pro-independence Scottish Green Party two seats by confusing voters.

McManus has spoken at AFFG rallies on at least two occasions, videos posted to AFFG’s YouTube channel show. In April 2024, as Believe in Scotland was hosting a march and rally for Scottish independence in Glasgow, McManus was addressing what AFFG describes as a “counter-rally”, where he called for the repeal of Scottish hate speech legislation. McConnachie was effusive in his praise: “It’s fantastic that we have got a mind like Dr McManus on our side.”

In September 2025, as All Under One Banner held a march and rally for Scottish independence in Edinburgh, AFFG again organised a counter-rally, this time with an anti-immigration theme. McManus was again among the speakers, delivering a bizarre and racist address in which he talked about the “disproportionate amount of sexual violence from recently arrived immigrants”, and peddled conspiracy theories about climate change and transgender people:

“Men on average are taller, more muscular, stronger than women are, and that’s why it’s a biological imperative for all men everywhere to protect women and children… If you’re asking men not to protect women and children, and you’re asking women not to protect children, you’re asking us not to be men and women. Now, as we know, sadly that’s exactly what they’re asking us to do because the powers that be don’t agree with nature – they want to improve it, they want to mess about with it…

“These people don’t like any of us. Why? Because we’re human. Does that surprise you? Because didn’t you know that humans are the problem in the planet? We’re the problem and they want to get rid of most of us, they want to wipe us out. Net zero is a scam, it’s a dangerous scam. It’s about monetising nature. We are the carbon they want to reduce.

“So the British press call us far-right and racist. Let’s take those in turn. Far-right means fascist, and what’s a fascist? Fascism is the public-private relationship to the benefit of the elite. Well, I’ve just summed up all of government policy for the last few decades, haven’t I? And as for racist, well, do you know who else they cry racist? Dr Martin Luther King. So we’re in good company, my friends.”

Beyond his ties to AFFG, McManus has also sought to build formal links between Sovereignty and far-right parties in England. In November 2025, he represented the party at a meeting in Crewe which led to the issuing of the ‘Belmont Accord’, a statement of five shared principles between Sovereignty, the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom (ADF), the Freedom Alliance (of which McManus is a former chairman), the Populist Party, the English Democrats and Putting Crewe First.

According to Hope Not Hate, the English Democrats are a far-right party whose leader Robin Tilbrook promotes antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories and which currently operates in alliance with UKIP and Patriotic Alternative (PA), the group which has played a leading role in ugly scenes of violence outside hotels housing asylum seekers in recent years.

The ADF, the Freedom Alliance and the Populist Party have all emerged through different paths from the anti-lockdown movement during the pandemic, which functioned to a great extent as an incubator for far-right politics and conspiracy theories. Putting Crewe First, ostensibly a broad-tent localist party, shares anti-migrant and anti-net zero content on its Facebook page.

The shared principles of the ‘Belmont Accord’ – which was launched on the initiative of the ADF – suitably include “secure borders” (“nations have the right to maintain their cultural integrity, to preserve their languages and heritage, and to secure their borders and people against foreign aggression, colonisation and exploitation”) and “anti-globalism”.

Sovereignty formally withdrew from the Belmont Accord at the end of January 2026 – not because of its disturbing far-right links, but apparently because of the references in the final draft of its principles to “a revival of true democracy in the United Kingdom” and “the freedom of the British people”, which are obviously at odds with its support for Scottish independence.

Announcing the withdrawal, Sovereignty leader Brian Nugent said: “While this withdrawal is regrettable – given the many principled individuals involved in Belmont – we believe it is necessary to uphold our integrity. We wish the alliance well in its efforts.”

A history of poor judgement

McManus is not the first Sovereignty candidate to raise eyebrows. In May 2021, the party – then known as Restore Scotland – fielded Ewan Gurr as its candidate in Dundee City West. As recently as December 2022, Gurr had been billed at some events as a “co-founder” of the party.

In 2005, the Daily Record exposed then 19-year-old Gurr – the son of a Dundee pastor – as the youth organiser of the BNP’s Tayside branch as well as “the drummer in a neo-Nazi rock band which plays at far-right rallies”. Gurr subsequently decided to leave the BNP, but has never properly acknowledged nor apologised for his racist past. In 2012, Gurr explained:

“After the article appeared, I spoke to my father and other trusted mentors I have in the community and we decided that I should leave the BNP immediately. Politics focuses on the negative impacts of society and problems and is very reactive. I wanted to take a more pro-active role in my community and do something about poverty.”

While on the campaign trail in 2021, Gurr played down his past in the BNP as a “teenage mistake”, again failing to acknowledge that he previously held racist beliefs and failing to clarify if, when and how he repudiated them. Today he presents himself as a Christian activist, often writing in favour of Brexit, against drag queens and about “the SNP’s war on Christians”.

Some of those who have recently abandoned the moribund Alba Party to join the Alliance to Liberate Scotland also have a history of this kind of poor judgement.

In 2016, Tommy Sheridan’s former party Solidarity – which he later wound up to join Alba – put up a candidate in North East Scotland who had previously been an organiser for the National Front and the BNP and a member of the “Scottish Knights” of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK). In spite of sharp criticism from republican and anti-fascist organisers, and the withdrawal of other candidates in protest, Sheridan accepted Gareth Norman’s claims to have abandoned racist and fascist politics through embracing Christianity.

Norman, who established a Christian homelessness charity in Dundee, is now serving a prison sentence for historic offences including raping a young child. At no point has Sheridan acknowledged or apologised for his error in promoting Norman’s acceptance in left-wing circles and status as an election candidate. Sheridan has been on a reactionary trajectory for some time and his prominent involvement in a new party with far-right ties in many ways appears to be the inevitable conclusion of this.

The Alliance to Liberate Scotland is running in May’s election on the single issue of independence – which has evidently opened the door to those with and adjacent to far-right politics.

The party states on its website: “Because we will not operate a party whip, our representatives will vote with their conscience on all matters, except for our singular commitment to advancing the cause of independence, where their support is unwavering.”

As of time of publication, an online crowdfunding campaign, which Heckle is deliberately choosing not to link, has raised £4,342 from 74 supporters for the party’s election campaign.

Independence and solidarity must go hand-in-hand

The rise of reactionary politics within the Scottish independence movement mirrors similar developments in other European national movements. In Ireland, Aontú, a self-described “republican party” which split from Sinn Féin in 2019, has three seats in the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) which it has used to promote anti-immigration, anti-trans and anti-abortion politics. The Aliança Catalana, which holds two seats in the Catalan parliament, is even more extreme with its open Islamophobia. In neither country has this benefited the national movement or brought it closer to success.

Meanwhile, other parts of the Scottish independence movement have sought to challenge the rise of racism and the far-right and build stronger links with ethnic minority communities. This task has become particularly urgent amid the appropriation of the Saltire and the language and symbolism of Scottish nationalism by racists, including avowed unionists.

The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) has taken the initiative to co-ordinate an anti-racist and anti-fascist bloc on Believe in Scotland’s upcoming march and rally in Edinburgh on Saturday 28th March, with support from organisations including the Scottish Socialist Youth, the Republican Socialist Platform (which publishes Heckle), the SNP Socialists and rs21 Scotland, saying:

“This march… is taking place just weeks ahead of an election which is set to introduce the far-right to the Scottish Parliament for the first time in our history.

“This breakthrough, enabled by a billionaire-funded campaign of racist scapegoating for the failures of successive UK governments, poses an existential threat to the diverse communities which make up our country, including migrants and ethnic and religious minorities, as well as women, LGBT+ people, disabled people and other marginalised groups.

“The independence movement, retaining its progressive outlook, can and should be a powerful force in resisting the rise of this politics in Scotland. But this will not happen unless we develop closer bonds between the grassroots independence movement and communities under attack – as well as those who have bravely faced down violence and intimidation to defend them in towns and cities like Falkirk and Aberdeen in recent months.

“In support of this end, we are inviting as many people as possible to march with us in Edinburgh behind the Radical Independence Campaign banner carrying this clear message: ‘A Scotland for All – Against Racism and Fascism.’

“As well as galvanising anti-racist and anti-fascist politics in the independence movement, this will also be an important symbol of solidarity with the massive Together Alliance march against the far-right taking place in London on the same day, which we know many in Scotland will support but cannot attend.”

This anti-racist bloc will gather on the steps of St Giles’ Cathedral from 11am. A Force for Good has already declared that it will stage a counter-protest at the Adam Smith statue on the opposite side of the cathedral.

The rise of the far-right internationally will increase pressure on individuals and organisations in the Scottish independence movement to make clear where they stand. Ultimately, those who are unwilling to shut the door on fascists should be judged by the company they keep.