Action for Independence (AFI) was a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Scotland. It was set up in July 2020 by former

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP)

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) Dave Thompson to compete at the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...

. Founded as Alliance for Independence, the party's name was rejected by the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

on the grounds that it was not an alliance of existing political parties. In February 2021, the commission approved the party's registration under its new name. At the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the AFI intended to stand on the regional list only, whilst encouraging voters to vote SNP in the constituency list. On 25 March 2021, former convener of the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an Scottish independence, independent Socialism, socialist Scottish Scottish republicanism, republic. The party was fou ...

and current convener of

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

Tommy Sheridan Thomas Sheridan (born 7 March 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from ...

, announced that he would be standing for the party. Other candidates announced included former SNP MSP John Wilson, former Labour MEP

Hugh Kerr Hugh Kerr (born 9 July 1944) is a Scottish politician and a former lecturer in social policy at the Polytechnic of North London. He was elected a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in June 1994 to represent the euro-constitu ...

and former

British Ambassador to Uzbekistan The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Uzbekistan is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the Republic of Uzbekistan, and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Tashkent. Ambassadors *1993–1995: Paul Bergne *1995& ...

Craig Murray Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat. While he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan (2002–2004), he exposed the violations of human rights in that count ...

. The following day, however, following former First Minister of Scotland,

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...

's announcement that had joined the

Alba Party The Alba Party (; ''Alba'' being the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland) is a Scottish nationalist and Scottish independence, pro-independence political party in Scotland. Founded in February 2021, it was led by former First Minister of Scotland, ...

and his intention to stand for election, the AFI's National Executive announced that they would be standing down all 42 candidates and would support Alba candidates. AFI was voluntarily deregistered on 14 April 2021.

References

{{Nationalism in the United Kingdom 2020 establishments in Scotland Scottish nationalist parties Political parties established in 2020 Politics of Scotland Scottish independence