As part of the Sheridan v News International defamation trial, he appeared at the Court of Session on 16 May 2006 following a demand by News International to hand over confidential internal SSP executive committee minutes.
It succeeded at persuading high profile SSP members like Alan McCombes, Rosie Kane, and Kevin Williamson to speak at its rallies and for its cause.
Regarding independence, the SSP's Alan McCombes wrote that "the tearing of the blue out of the Union Jack and the dismantling of the 300-year-old British state would be a traumatic psychological blow for the forces of capitalism and conservatism in Britain, Europe and the USA", and that it would be "almost as potent in its symbolism as the unravelling of the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s".
Alan Moore | Alan Lomax | Alan Alda | Alan Jackson | Alan Shearer | Alan Turing | Alan Greenspan | Alan Autry | Alan Ayckbourn | Alan Jay Lerner | Alan Ridout | Alan Bennett | Alan Arkin | Alan Thicke | Alan K. Simpson | Alan Keyes | The Alan Titchmarsh Show | Alan Whiticker | Alan Jones | Alan | Alan Watts | Alan Rickman | Alan Freed | Alan Clark | Alan Price | Alan Hovhaness | Alan Bleasdale | Alan Titchmarsh | Alan Dershowitz | Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke |
Tommy Sheridan saved his deposit in Glasgow Pollok, and Jim McVicar and Alan McCombes picked up a significant vote in Glasgow Baillieston and Glasgow Govan respectively.
These divisions became exacerbated by the resignation of Tommy Sheridan as convenor and the election of the new convenor, which was a contest between two ISM members, Colin Fox and Alan McCombes.