Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who sought Scotland’s independence from UK, dies at 69

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LONDON (AP) — Alex Salmond, the previous first minister of Scotland who for many years championed Scotland’s independence from the U.Ok., has died. He was 69.

Salmond, who was a divisive determine in British politics and who because the then chief of the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering took Scotland to the brink of independence in a 2014 referendum, died within the North Macedonia lake-resort city of Ohrid, native media reported.

“Sadly, Alex Salmond, the previous first minister of Scotland who was one of many panellists at yesterday’s cultural diplomacy discussion board that was held in Ohrid, died all of the sudden as we speak,” in keeping with a press release from the workplace of former North Macedonia President Gjorgje Ivanov.

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Tributes poured in from throughout the political spectrum, with U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Social gathering calling him a “monumental determine” of each Scottish and British politics.

“He leaves behind an enduring legacy,” Starmer mentioned. “As first minister of Scotland, he cared deeply about Scotland’s heritage, historical past and tradition, in addition to the communities he represented.”

Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014, and was chief of the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering on two events, from 1990 to 2000, and from 2004 to 2014. Salmond, as then chief of the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering, led the independence marketing campaign within the referendum in 2014, however misplaced, gaining 45% of the vote. Salmond resigned from the SNP in 2018 within the wake of sexual harassment allegations.

He subsequently fashioned a brand new occasion known as Alba — the Scottish Gaelic phrase for Scotland — and was acquitted of the fees.

The present SNP first minister, John Swinney, mentioned that he was “deeply shocked and saddened on the premature loss of life” of Salmond.

“Over a few years, Alex made an unlimited contribution to political life, not simply inside Scotland, however throughout the U.Ok. and past,” he mentioned. “He took the Scottish Nationwide Social gathering from the fringes of Scottish politics into authorities and led Scotland so near changing into an impartial nation.”

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Former U.Ok. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned that Salmond was a “enormous determine in our politics.”

Salmond mentioned that he realized to dream of a greater Scotland at his grandfather’s knee, and selected to hitch the SNP at college in 1973 when his English girlfriend poked an excessive amount of enjoyable at his separatist sentiments.

Salmond’s tutorial {and professional} background ready him to turn into Scotland’s most economically optimistic and visionary politician. At St. Andrew’s College. he double-majored in medieval historical past, reflecting his love of a Caledonia misplaced, and economics. In his 20s, he labored as an economist first for Britain’s regional authorities in Scotland after which on the Royal Financial institution of Scotland, the place he analyzed the nation’s most dynamic business, North Sea oil.

He gained a seat within the U.Ok. Parliament in 1987, and inside three years was occasion chief. He supported Tony Blair’s Labour authorities within the late Nineteen Nineties to create a devolved Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, a reform that stopped in need of independence, however gave his homeland a style of self-government for the primary time since its 1707 union with England.

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Salmond then had a really public discussion board to push his dream of full independence ahead — his authorities had an array of powers particularly on social points — and managed to persuade the federal government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to name a referendum. Up till the outcomes had been identified, it had been thought of an in depth name.

Although the independence marketing campaign misplaced, Salmond’s SNP managed to capitalize its help and has dominated Scottish politics since. The SNP has been the Edinburgh-based authorities since, although it suffered an enormous setback on this yr’s U.Ok.-wide basic election, when it misplaced a overwhelming majority of the seats it held within the Home of Commons to Labour. The subsequent Scottish election is because of happen in 2026.

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Demetris Nellas contributed to this report from Athens, Greece.

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