Scottish election 2021: Sturgeon says SNP 'not a divided party'

The leader of the SNP has insisted her party was "not divided".

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Nicola Sturgeon said her aim at May's Holyrood election was winning a "simple majority".

She rejected Alex Salmond's idea of creating a "super majority" by encouraging voters to back his newly-formed Alba Party on the regional list.

The former first minister said he wanted to work with an SNP government to advance the cause of independence.

He told the BBC's Today programme that that cause was "much, much bigger than personalities".

Ms Sturgeon denied that the SNP was suffering from internal issues and said support had "never been higher".

She explained: "I know I lead a party that has a growing membership just now and has a commanding position in the opinion polls.

"The breakdown of opinion polls that tests the views and attitudes of SNP voters show the SNP is actually the most united of all the parties in Scotland."

Ms Sturgeon went to say that she was concentrating on winning a "simple majority" and if people wanted an SNP government, and her as first minister, then voting for the nationalists was the only way to bring that about.

She said that when Mr Salmond was the party leader he did not say "what he is saying now".

Ms Sturgeon said: "He was right when he said the only way to make sure you get the government you want is to vote for the party that will be that government. Anything else is trying to gamble with the system, game the system and take a chance on the outcome of the election.

"If you want to see an SNP government elected that then has the ability to deliver an independence referendum, you don't get that by voting for somebody else."

On SNP politicians leaving the party to stand at the Holyrood election for the Alba Party she said she was "not sure it is as many as Mr Salmond was hoping for".

She added "I also don't think this is a friendly gesture on Mr Salmond's part towards the SNP."

Last week, former SNP leader Mr Salmond announced the creation of a new pro-independence party. He said the Alba Party would not field candidates in any of the 73 constituency seats but rather concentrate on the regional lists which cover eight areas of Scotland and produces 56 MSPs.

Speaking on Today, Mr Salmond said that securing a "super majority" of pro-independence parties at Holyrood would "strengthen immeasurably Scotland's hand in negotiating with a Tory PM".

He added: "From 2007 to 2011 I was first minister and I was negotiated first with Gordon Brown and then with David Cameron to try to advance Scotland's cause and it was a difficulty because it was a Unionist majority in the Scottish Parliament so I was looking over my shoulder all the time as I was trying to negotiate, then after 2011 when the SNP on its own gained a very narrow majority it became much easier to get that referendum in 2014.

"What I am saying is that a supermajority in the parliament that is not just composed of one party, the SNP, but other independence parties, like Alba, will change that power balance considerably because no Tory PM will want to be to trying to face down an entire parliament and an entire people."