Call for private companies not to veto political messages, after Alba billboard rejected

Media company Global says it rejected the Alba Party’s posters as they were “slandering” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

The Alba Party says private companies should not be allowed to dictate what political messages the public sees, after their billboard advert was rejected.

Media company Global rejected Alba’s poster, which features a vampire-like image of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak feeding off of North Sea oil.

It reads: “No wonder he’s laughing. He’s got Scotland’s oil.”

The Alba Party have hit out after a billboard poster was rejected by Global. Image: Peter Summers/Getty Images.

Global wrote back to the party and said: “The only political messages we allow to run are basic messages such as ‘vote for us’, but not when a party is slandering someone.”

The posters have been branded “distasteful”, but Alba said it was merely taking inspiration from a similar 1980s SNP poster that had a cartoon of the-then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Alba’s general secretary Chris McEleny now says the posters are “perfectly legitimate”, as new figures show North Sea oil and gas revenues have reached record levels.

Scottish Government statistics published on Wednesday show there was a £6.9 billion increase in North Sea revenue in 2022/23, as the Government’s public spending deficit falling to £19.1bn.

The poster that was rejected by Alba. Image: Alba Party.

Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Mr McEleny said: “Scotland is an energy rich nation, but people are living in fuel poverty. Since the oil taps were first turned on, £300bn has flowed into the UK Treasury, but we don’t have any influence on how this money is spent.

“There is a general election coming up, and we wanted to put these posters up in Rutherglen ahead of the by-election, but a private company has been able to veto our political message.

“I don’t think we should be going into a general election where companies which parties rely on for political messaging can veto them.”

He added: “We would like Global to reverse this decision and accept the billboards. We should be able to see them and get what we paid for.

“As we approach the general election, we can’t have a situation in a democracy where private companies are deciding which political messages we see and which we don’t.”