Independence for Scotland Party
The Independence for Scotland Party is a minor political party in Scotland which supports Scottish independence within the European [Free Trade Association].
History
The party was founded in 2020 and was registered by the Electoral Commission on 7 May 2020.In November 2020, the party came under fire for quoting then Scottish National Party Member of Parliament Kenny MacAskill's published view on constituency versus list voting. MacAskill issued a statement saying that the advert was made without his consent.
On 8 January 2021, former SNP councillor Roddy McCuish became the first elected representative of the ISP, when he joined the party while on Argyll and Bute Council, having been sitting as an independent since his re-election in 2017 [Argyll and Bute Council election|2017]. McCuish would later announce that he would stand down at the 2022 [Argyll and Bute Council election|2022 election].
The ISP had planned to stand fourteen list candidates in the 2021 [Scottish Parliament election], one in South Scotland and Glasgow and two in the remaining six regions. However, after the Alba Party announced their formation and decision to compete in the election, they withdrew their candidates.
The ISP contested the 2022 Scottish local elections, running eleven candidates in total.
They did not win any seats.
The party leader, Collette Walker, was a candidate in the 2023 [Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election]. It was her party's first United Kingdom parliamentary election. She finished in ninth place with 0.68% of the vote, and lost her deposit.
At the 2024 general election, ISP stood two candidates: John Hannah and Walker.
The party campaigned on a platform of Abstentionism in the election.
Both Hannah and Walker were unsuccessful in their bid to win a seat, receiving 0.9% and 0.6% of votes respectively.
For the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, ISP is standing candidates as part of Liberate Scotland along with Sovereignty. Liberate Scotland is a pro-independence electoral alliance, formed by some of the smaller parties and independents to avoid splitting the nationalist vote.