No alliance: The fringe parties competing for Scotland’s votes

When is an alliance not an alliance? When it’s three competing political parties.

A trio of parties have registered under similar names, but voters would be best-advised not to confuse them – after all, they stand for very different things.

Freedom Alliance, the Alliance to Liberate Scotland and Alliance for Democracy and Freedom are all fielding candidates in the forthcoming Scottish Parliament election.

They are amongst a clutch of smaller organisations taking on bigger and longer-established parties like the SNP, Scottish Labour and Reform UK.

The latter may be relatively new, but it has a formidable war chest that runs into the millions, and is standing representatives in every constituency and region.

Polls suggest it will get a significant return on that investment, becoming one of the parliament’s largest parties.

Meanwhile, the SNP is predicted to win the most seats, but fall short of an overall majority, with Scottish Labour projected to land in second or third place, with around the same number of MSPs as Reform.

But not every party can put up hopefuls in all parts of the country. The Scottish Greens, for example, are only standing in seven constituencies – and considering the party has only ever picked up list seats, that decision may prove wise.

In contrast, Alliance to Liberate Scotland has entered 14 local candidates, as well as competing on the list. Describing itself as a “bold new political party”, the Glasgow-based organisation was founded last year. Pro-independence, it includes former Alba and Solidarity figures such as Eva Comrie, Craig Murray and Tommy Sheridan, the former MSP who was convicted of perjury in 2010, as well as his wife Gail. “We will use every democratic election as a plebiscite on independence, uniting pro-independence candidates across Scotland under a single purpose,” the party says, which is “to end the Union and begin the rebirth of a free Scottish state.”

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom is standing three prospective constituency MSPs. Registered to an address in Oldham, the anti-lockdown party campaigns on freedom of speech and wants the UK to withdraw from all “non-democratic supra-national bodies” like the UN, the WHO, the IMF and Nato.

Freedom Alliance, which has just one constituency candidate in Paisley, also opposes lockdowns and considers itself “a home for the politically homeless”. The North Yorkshire-based party campaigns against digital ID and says it is a “libertarian party committed to community”.

All political parties must register with the Electoral Commission, which regulates names, logos and slogans.

It has given the green light to Independent Green Voice, which was founded by Alistair McConnachie, a pro-union and ex-Ukip campaigner who disputed that gas chambers were used by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

The tiny party ran in 2021, when the Scottish Greens complained to the Electoral Commission about the rival’s branding. This year it is also using the slogan “Organic Green Voice” in its list campaign.

At the last election, the Greens claimed that voters had been confused and misled into voting IGV, and that votes cast for the smaller outfit had cost the Scottish Greens two seats.

And there will be yet more options on peach ballot papers, with choices varying between regions. They include but are not limited to the Independence for Scotland Party, the Scottish Christian Party, the Scottish Family Party, Ukip, and the Workers Party of Britain, whose leader is former MP and Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway.

Meanwhile, independents will also attempt to win their way to the parliament, fighting on a range of issues.