COMMENT: Desperate Alex Salmond will say ANYTHING to con Scottish voters, Daily Express

THE chances of a Yes vote for independence in the referendum next month may have receded slightly in the past week or so, but they remain worryingly real.

The pro–United Kingdom No campaign may have been bolstered by the victory of Alistair Darling over Alex Salmond in the television debate earlier this month, but they are taking nothing for granted.

Mr Salmond has already proved he is able to execute a last round burst to overtake an opponent seemingly cruising to victory; no one should forget the last Scottish parliamentary election when an expected Labour win was turned into a rout by the SNP.

In London, as here, the possibility of a last–minute surge by the Nationalists is being taken deadly seriously. It is unlikely the Better Together campaign or the UK Government is going to put a foot badly wrong within the next five weeks, but you can never tell.

And what is certain is that Mr Salmond and his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, will become ever more outrageous in their wild promises of post–independence riches for all, a last–ditch tactic which will be coupled to their constantly voiced doomwatch scenario should we vote to stay in the UK.

There is no doubt that the Yes campaign is badly damaged, probably irrevocably. Even many of the most diehard Nationalists are all but conceding defeat and looking forward to what can be done about reviving their long campaign after September.

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Fears monarchy could be ditched by independent Scotland with Queen forced to send Australian-style Royal representative instead . Daily Mail

Experts fear independence could throw up divided loyalties for the Queen

Solution could be to appoint representative to act in the Sovereign's name

Claims Scotland may eventually ditch Royal family and becoming a republic

Comes amid growing support for independence ahead of September 18 vote

Support for independence up to 43% with 57% backing the Union

The Queen may be forced to appoint an Australian-style ‘governor general’ to rule in her name in Scotland if the country votes for independence next month, it has been claimed.

Constitutional experts fear independence could throw up divided loyalties for the Queen if there was a clash between Scotland and the rump-UK in the future.

One solution would be to appoint a ‘governor general’ in Edinburgh to act in the Queen’s name. This could lead Scotland to eventually ditching the Royal family and becoming a republic within the European Union, claim experts.

The claim comes as a new poll shows rising support for independence with just a month to go before the referendum on September 18.

A YouGov poll for the Times puts support for independence at 43 per cent, with 57 per cent backing the Union, once undecided voters are taken out.

Earlier this month just 39 per cent said they were preparing to vote Yes - with 61 per cent for No.

Scottish Nationalist leader Alex Salmond has insisted that the Queen will remain head of state in an independent Scotland.

But his party is split on the issue. The SNP’s John Mason yesterday called for a referendum to replace the Queen as head of state in Scotland.

He said: ‘The present queen is very popular, but the mood of society may change when she leaves the throne.’

Scotland Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has also raised the prospect this year of a referendum on the Royals. He said it was ‘for the people of Scotland to decide’ on the Queen’s role.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective

Why is everything going wrong for the Scottish Yes campaign?, The New Statesman

With little over a month to go until the referendum, the No campaign is buoyant. Alex Salmond’s unexpectedly weak performance against Alistair Darling in the first televised debate has convinced unionists they are winning the argument as well as the vote. The polls are consolidating in favour of the Union. The currency issue is eating away at the SNP’s economic credibility. The Yes activists I speak to are uncharacteristically downbeat as they begin to accept, some of them for the first time in 24 months, that they might actually lose.

Amidst the gloom, nationalists are telling themselves comforting stories. One is that polling companies haven’t picked-up what’s happening "on the ground"; that the network of Yes groups in poor neighbourhoods will deliver a burst of working class enthusiasm strong enough to propel independence over the line on referendum day. Another is that the SNP has been in this situation before – three years ago, as the last Holyrood election approached – and will turn things around now as it did then.

We won’t find out how credible the first story is until the vote itself, but the second one just doesn’t stack-up. "The difference between 2011 and 2014", one senior Better Together figure told me recently, "is that in 2011 [Scottish Labour] knew the fundamentals, like leadership and the economy, weren’t on its side. This time we know they are." This is surely right. At the end of June, 49 per cent of Scots said independence would make them worse off, compared to just 27 per cent who said it would make them better off. It would be difficult for any party to win an election battling against these sorts of numbers, let alone a referendum on something as far-reaching as national sovereignty.

So where did it all go wrong for the Yes campaign, which only a few weeks ago was fizzing with confidence? The left claims Yes Scotland and the SNP have spent too much time trying to persuade voters that independence will be achieved seamlessly, with little or no disruption to Scotland’s economy or its institutions, when it should have been emphasising Scotland’s bleak prospects as part of an austerity-bound UK. Had the SNP made September 18 a referendum on the current state of Britain, rather than the future state of Scotland, Yes support would be higher than it is now, they argue.

It’s a legitimate point. The weakest feature of the SNP’s independence prospectus – its plan for a post-UK sterlingzone – is also the centrepiece of the party’s "continuity strategy" – the various triangulating gestures the SNP leadership has made over recent years to reassure undecided voters that radical constitutional change needn’t entail radical political change. But the public knows, intuitively, that this isn’t true. You can’t sell a grand political vision like self-determination with a series of (supposedly) pragmatic compromises. Why bother with all the upheaval – and, for some, the trauma – of creating a new state if it’s going to look just like the old one?

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Number of Scottish people who described themselves as British on the increase as campaign for independence turns off voters. Daily Mail

  Survey finds number of people saying they are British has increased to 23%

  The Scottish Social Attitudes study revealed that the figure was 15% in 2011

  Those who describe themselves as Scottish has dropped from 75 to 65% 

  Figures come five weeks before Scottish independence vote in September 

More people in Scotland are describing themselves as British - and fewer as Scottish - as the campaign for independence turns off voters.

The Scottish Social Attitudes survey found that the number of people who say they are British has increased from 15 per cent in 2011 to 23 per cent, while those who say they are Scottish has dropped from 75 to 65 per cent.

The rekindling of a sense of British identity is the latest blow to Alex Salmond’s independence bid, just five weeks before the referendum on September 18.

It appears to be most pronounced in women, just 27 per cent of whom back separation, compared to 39 per cent of men. This 12 point gap between the sexes is double that of 2013.

The First Minister was routed in a TV debate against former chancellor Alistair Darling last Tuesday and has been struggling to turn around opinion polls that predict Scots will vote against breaking up the UK.

When respondents to the survey were presented with a range of options from ‘Scottish, not British’ to ‘British, not Scottish’, the most popular choice was ‘equally Scottish and British’ (32 per cent) – its highest level since 1999.

The number of people who said they were ‘British, not Scottish’, fell to 23 per cent, its lowest level in 15 years.

The annual survey of 1,339 people saw a small increase in support for independence in the last year, from 36 per cent to 39 per cent, but revealed growing anxiety about how a Yes vote would affect Scotland..

Some 38 per cent fear its voice in world would be weaker – up from a quarter in 2013 and 22 per cent in 2012.

While 44 per cent believe the economy would be worse – up from 34 per cent in both 2013 and 2012.

Mr Salmond’s blokeish attitude has been widely cited as a reason that women have been put off voting for independence.

Read more here:

Further Reading

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective,

Scottish independence: FM stands firm on currency, The Scotsman, Updated

ALEX Salmond is standing his ground and refusing to name a Plan B for Scotland’s currency after independence, despite mounting criticism of his leadership and unprecedented pressure from his opponents.

Amid growing unrest among his own supporters and a slump in the polls, the First Minister is refusing to back down on his policy, which will be given a final seal of approval by his hand-picked group of economic advisers next week.

Last night there was no sign of the issue going away when leaders of the three opposition parties at Holyrood wrote to Salmond demanding that he sets out a Plan B, arguing that his proposal for a formal currency union with the rest of the UK is “impossible”.

Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said an independent Scotland will not be entitled to insist on a formal currency union – sharing the pound and the Bank of England with the rest of the UK.

Salmond’s failure to deal with Alistair Darling’s criticisms of his currency plans during last week’s STV televised debate has led to discontent within the Yes movement and support for independence falling in the polls.

His display has also encouraged the No campaign to concentrate even more of its efforts on attacking his currency plans, sensing a fatal flaw.

Read more here:

Further Reading here:

The Five Tests for a Currency Union

Bill Jamieson: Shedding debt is financial suicide

“An independent Scotland would keep the pound because it’s our currency and it would be in the interests of the rest of the UK to agree to currency sharing. But if the rest of the UK won’t agree, an independent Scotland would punish it by repudiating its pro rata share of UK debt.

For the avoidance of doubt, Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland last week that failure to agree a currency union would “absolve the Scots of a £120 billion share of UK debt, which translates into an annual cost of £5bn a year”.

There are other things into which this would “translate”, as Angus Armstrong of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research pointed out last week. If it is this easy to walk away from debt obligations, secessionist movements in Europe would jump at the precedent. How might Scotland’s EU application stand then?

Yes, it would remove a hefty burden from our shoulders. But an independent country that began life with debt repudiation would find it could not raise money in international markets without lenders demanding substantially higher interest rates. Scotland’s credit rating would be rock bottom.”

The Fiscal sustainability of an independent Scotland

Polly Toynbee: Scotland remains Europe's basket case for health inequality showing real marker for poverty

“Scottish politicians seem as unwilling as Westminster to tell voters they must pay Scandinavian taxes if they genuinely want a social democratic future…. Are the people of Scotland genuinely willing to tax themselves towards social democracy?”

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective

A glorious, flag-waving defence of our kingdom’s union: Whisper it - Britain would be nothing without Scotland... and Scotland will be nothing if conceited Salmond’s in charge Daily Mail

Imagine yourself at a very smart dinner party and the conversation gets round to the issue of Scottish independence. Suppose people whose intelligence and thoughtfulness you’ve long respected, such as Sir David Attenborough and historians Simon Schama and Professor Mary Beard, said they thought that it was in the best interests of Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom rather than going it alone in the world.

Then people who were at the top of their professions, such as the former chiefs of the Defence Staff, Marshal of the Air Force ‘Jock’ Stirrup, Lord Stirrup, and Field Marshal Charles Guthrie, Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, agreed with them, as did the former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Alan West.

At the other end of the table, some of the brainiest people in Europe, including Stephen Hawking and the former Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, wholeheartedly agree.

Wouldn’t you listen very carefully to what they have to say? Especially if historians of the calibre of Margaret MacMillan and Tom Holland, intellectuals of the experience of Melvyn Bragg and Joan Bakewell, actors of the quality of Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Judi Dench also weighed in, saying exactly the same thing?

Wouldn’t these views be at least worth considering very profoundly? Not if you’re someone of the vanity and self-regard – or perhaps by now the sheer desperation – of Alex Salmond.

The Yes campaign has sneered at the opinions of some of the most profound thinkers and intellectuals of our day who have just written a joint letter opposing Scottish independence, simply because they were joined on the page by a number of TV celebrities, comedians and social gadflies who were asked to join the 200-strong list.

Read more here:

Further Reading

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective

Alex Salmond threatens to default on share of debts

"Economists warned that a debt default would wreck the country’s reputation for fiscal responsibility."

Surge in no vote after Alex Salmond TV flop: Major blow for SNP in wake of debate defeat Daily Mail

Viewers believe Alistair Darling crushed Alex Salmond in live televised debate

Poll reveals nearly quarter of viewers now more likely to reject independence

More than two-thirds of 1,010 Scots polled said First Minister needs 'plan B'

The shock Survation poll, carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, shows that opposition to separation has soared to 50 per cent for the first time since the firm began asking the question.

That is a remarkable four point increase in the space of a single week, with only 37 per cent now in favour of a Yes vote – down three points. When undecided voters are excluded, the No camp is on 57 per cent – a massive 14-point lead over Yes, compared to just a six-point lead last Sunday.

Mr Salmond's failure to answer questions about the currency of an independent Scotland is at the heart of the dramatic collapse.

More than two-thirds of the 1,010 Scots polled by Survation said the First Minister should produce a 'plan B' to his unrealistic bid to keep the pound before voters cast their ballots.

Asked to pick adjectives to describe the SNP leader's performance in the pivotal STV debate last Tuesday – which was watched by 1.7million people – the most popular choices were 'weak', 'uninformed' and 'dishonest'

.

His opponent, former Chancellor Mr Darling who is spearheading the Better Together campaign, was described as 'knowledgeable' and 'strong'.

Mr Salmond's leadership is now under unprecedented scrutiny, with senior SNP figures privately briefing against him throughout the week and some suggesting his deputy Nicola Sturgeon should replace him for a crunch TV debate on the BBC later this month. 

Read more here:

Further Reading

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective

Tom Holland on our island story: what England and Scotland share politically and morally, New Statesman

Magna Carta and the Declaration of Arbroath, Boswell and Johnson, Walter Scott and Disraeli, Robert Owen and Keir Hardie – Scotland and England have long mirrored each other in many ways, says Tom Holland.

The Tarbat Peninsula, a spit of land sticking out from the northernmost Scottish Highlands, seems an unlikely spot for a revolution. At its tip stands a lighthouse, built by Robert Louis Stevenson’s uncle back in 1830 after a deadly storm in the adjacent Moray Firth; a few miles south lies the tiny fishing village of Portmahomack. Most visitors there today are tourists, attracted by its picturesque harbour and sandy beach; but back in the mid-6th century it was the scene of a momentous experiment.

A band of ascetics, wandering enthusiasts for an exotic new religion named Christianity, arrived at the court of a local king. Simultaneously intrigued and suspicious, he granted them some unwanted land on which to found a community. “The Haven of Saint Colmóc” – “Port Mo Chalmaig” – was the first ever monastery on the coast of Easter Ross. For 250 years, until it was destroyed by a terrible fire at the beginning of the 9th century, Portmahomack was one of the most celebrated places in Britain.

That it is impossible to be certain who either the king or “Saint Colmóc” was reminds us just how dark the Dark Ages can be. Various shocking details were reported of the people among whom Portmahomack was founded. It was said that they had come from Scythia; that they fought naked; that they were ruled by women who kept whole troupes of husbands. Most notoriously of all, they were reported to tattoo themselves: a barbarous habit that had led them to being nicknamed “Picti”, or “painted people”. A people more hostile to the norms of southern lands it would have been hard to imagine. Even the Romans had given up trying to tame them. Yet where the legions had failed, a hardy band of monks had succeeded. An outpost of Mediterranean culture had been successfully planted in the farthest north.

The coming of Christianity to Pictland was part of a much broader process that ultimately united the whole of Great Britain in a common religious culture. Pagan rulers, when they submitted to baptism, were rarely signing up to the poverty and pacifism preached by monks. What appealed instead was the awesome potency of the Christian God. Membership of the Church attracted those with broad horizons and a taste for self-enrichment.

Yet conversion to Christianity was never a one-way street. At Portmahomack, the missionaries were influenced by native customs, as well as vice versa. The tradition of holy men possessed of a privileged relationship to the supernatural was not unknown to the Picts. Even the tonsure worn by the monks derived from the Druids. The very stonework of the monastery was incised with patterns already ancient when the Romans had first arrived in Britain. The decision to become Christian did not, for the peoples of Pictland, imply surrender to an alien power. Rather, it reflected a creative engagement with the world beyond their various kingdoms.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Give us your Plan B, Alex': After TV debate humiliation, Salmond urged to come clean about his alternative to keeping the pound.

Successful partnerships or unions depend on give and take. Political unions provide for this. Money raised from taxpayers can then be transferred to wherever in the union needs it: in bad times and good, and over time. Our Union, as the UK including Scotland, has worked like that pretty well over the past 300 years.

Mr Salmond and his colleagues in the SNP are using the people not only of Scotland but the people of  the rest of the United Kingdom to serve their grandiose egos., 

“The best way to keep the pound would be through a currency union like today,” said Sir Martin Jacomb, former chairman of Prudential, and Sir Andrew Large, former deputy governor of the Bank of England. This is not compatible with Scotland being politically independent, and is therefore not on offer,”

In 2003, Mr Salmond told me Scotland would be independent in 20 years. After that debate I doubt it By STEPHEN GLOVER. Daily Mail

 During the 2003 Scottish elections I found myself walking around the back streets of Dundee with Alex Salmond. He was not then leader of the Scottish Nationalists, though he had been, and would soon be again. I remember him as an amiable and rumpled figure.

At one of our pit-stops he said something that chilled my blood. He told me that in 20 years, if not before, Scotland would be an independent country. He asserted this so calmly and confidently that it was hard to disbelieve him.

I wonder whether Tuesday evening’s debate with Alistair Darling will mark the point when Mr Salmond and the rest of the world began to realise that his prophecy of an independent Scotland has been confounded, at any rate for a generation.

And I also wonder whether the debate might remind Labour that Mr Darling (still only 60) is a considerable but often underrated politician who in most respects stands head and shoulders above the party’s present leader, Ed Miliband.

 The debate had been billed as a contest between the wily, charming Mr Salmond, and the boring, bank managerish Mr Darling. Some supporters of the Union had had so many qualms about the former Chancellor that there had been private talk of replacing him with the more pugnacious John Reid, a Cabinet minister in the Blair administration.

In the event, though, it was the supposedly plodding Mr Darling who easily won the day. An instant Guardian/ICM poll after the debate gave him victory by 56 per cent to 44 per cent. It is hard to find anyone even in the Yes camp who thinks their man did well.

By the way, let me say how outrageous it was that the contest could not be viewed south of the border except online, and even then the picture was often interrupted. These two men were discussing the future of our country, Britain, and yet most citizens of the United Kingdom were excluded from the debate.

Read more here:

Further reading here:

We are the underdogs now, admits Salmond: Support for independence slumps after his TV mauling, Daily Mail

Plan B or not Plan B: Salmond rejects the question,  The Scotsman

Scottish Independence, a Vehicle for Alex Salmond's Grandiose Ego ?

First Minister Alex Salmond warns that without the pound an independent Scotland would refuse to take its share of UK debt and claims debate was a success for Yes camp.

Alex Salmond defends Plan B currency stance after losing Scottish debate on TV, Telegraph, Updated

First Minister Alex Salmond warns that without the pound an independent Scotland would refuse to take its share of UK debt and claims debate was a success for Yes camp.

Alex Salmond today continued to refuse to name his Plan B currency for a separate Scotland after holding a post-mortem discussion with advisers over his surprise defeat in the independence TV debate.

The First Minister arrived an hour and a half late at a conference for businessmen who support separation this morning, his first public engagement since he lost the STV showdown with Alistair Darling.

A defiant Mr Salmond defended his repeated refusal to name a Plan B currency if the remaining UK won't share the pound, despite being booed by the debate audience for dodging the question.

He even attempted to claim the debate had been a success for the Yes campaign, citing a snap ICM opinion poll that showed most Scots thought Mr Darling won the debate

The First Minister argued that a breakdown of figures revealed undecided voters gave him the victory and said support for independence had risen during the showdown.

But Unionist parties said he was clutching at straws after the figures showed that the support for the Yes campaign increased by only six voters during the debate, while backing for No rose by eight people.

Mr Salmond, who refused to take questions from the print press, pointed to another figure showing 74 per cent of undecided voters thought he had emerged victorious. The ICM breakdown showed this was the equivalent of only 23 people.

The First Minister also defended his repeated refusal to name a Plan B on the currency and warned that without the pound Scotland would refuse to take on its proportion of the UK debt after independence.

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Further Reading here:

Scotland 'likely to be worse off after independence' Daily Telegraph

Independent Scotland's debt 'would force spending cuts or tax rises'

Analysts at Societe Generale said Scotland would have an “immense” task ahead of it were voters to opt for independence in next month’s referendum, disparaging claims from the “Yes” camp that the country would easily gain EU membership and grow rich off oil revenues.

A resounding 'no': the UK financial industry's verdict on Scottish independence

Kevan McDonald: Currency questions need answers, The Scotsman

Danny Alexander: Salmond stuck on pound question, The Scotsman

Scottish independence: Salmond says 'we're keeping the pound' BBC News

COMMENT: Bookmakers were wrong to tip gambler Alex Salmond in independence TV debate, Scottish Daily Express

The bookies obviously reflect the mood of their punters, who do not as a rule enjoy taking too many risks with their hard-earned cash.

But sometimes bookies, and their punters, can be wrong, and last night they were.

Almost everyone has at least a grudging admiration for the swashbuckling, everconfident manner of Mr Salmond - which is why he was the bookies' favourite - but with little more than a month before the referendum, most people were watching from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

And they will have been looking for reassurance and stability.

Now that we are virtually on the last lap of this seemingly interminable campaign, the thought of taking the kinds of risks that Alex Salmond and his Nationalist supporters propose is distinctly unappealing.

Mr Salmond, as lubricious as ever, did not fail his admirers.

But most of last night's viewers, I suspect, would not wish to follow this man - and his wonky financial nous - into the dense thicket of uncertainty he proposes.

That is why, in the absence of any immediate verdict by STV's 350-strong audience, last night's winner - out there in the real world - was Alistair Darling.

He was never going to set the studio in Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire alight with his booming oratory, but his calm, incisive delivery, and his ability to unravel the untold consequences of Mr Salmond's reckless venture, will surely have told on the electorate.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Duel that ignored the hard questions: MAX HASTINGS delivers his forthright verdict on last night's Scottish independence debate . Daily Mail

'You are really scrabbling around now!' Alistair Darling takes the fight to Alex Salmond in first live TV debate on Scottish independence Daily Mail,

Scottish Independence, a Vehicle for Alex Salmond's Grandiose Ego ?

Independence referendum debate: Alistair Darling wins round one in televised clash with Alex Salmond, Daily Record, Updated

ALISTAIR DARLING won a shock victory
 in the first referendum TV debate 
last night as Alex Salmond came unstuck on the pound. The Better Together leader, an underdog before the start, hammered the First Minister relentlessly on the future of Scotland’s currency.

And when it was all over, 56 per cent of viewers surveyed in a snap ICM exit poll named Darling as the winner.The former Labour Chancellor had been widely expected to fall victim to Salmond’s feared debating skills.

But he put his SNP rival on the 
rack with strong attacks over whether Scotland would keep the pound
after a Yes vote.The bruising encounter early in the two-hour battle seemed to unsettle the First Minister, who went into the debate behind in the polls and knowing he needed a convincing victory.

Salmond rallied later to score strong points over Con-Dem welfare cuts, Trident and the Bedroom Tax.Darling also looked uncomfortable as the First Minister repeatedly challenged him to admit Scotland could be a “successful independent country”.

But the future of the pound – seen by many as the key issue in the race to September 18 – was Salmond’s downfall.

 

Read more here:

 

Further Reading here:

 

Yes Scotland ridiculed after issuing a guide telling supporters what to say on social media during TV debate 

“The Scottish Government’s own figures show a separate Scotland’s finances would be in a weaker position than the UK’s 2016/17 thanks to declining North Sea oil revenues. But the guide told supporters in bold type that “we will be in a stronger financial position in the first years of independence than we are today.”

Alex Salmond accused of a 'huge deception' over his plans for a currency union after a Yes vote

"Alex Salmond claims that nothing much will change, that threats otherwise are a bluff and that Scotland would keep the pound sterling - but although Scotland could keep using the pound, to promise 'no change' is a huge deception: the consequences would be enormous."

Alex Salmond And Alistair Darling Clash Over Currency In First Scottish Independence Debate. PA/Huffington Post UK

Scottish independence TV debate: First blood to Alistair Darling as he clashes over currency with Alex Salmond in televised Yes/No debate

FMQs: Alex Salmond defends independence pound plan

Duel that ignored the hard questions: MAX HASTINGS delivers his forthright verdict on last night's Scottish independence debate . Daily Mail

This was billed as the Great Debate between Scotland’s First Minister and the former chancellor and standard-bearer for the No campaign, Alistair Darling.

In truth it turned into the Big Silence night, with neither side confronting the real issues and harsh realities about the future of an independent Scotland.

Alex Salmond called on Scots to seize the ‘opportunity’ of independence with both hands. Alistair Darling urged them to reject it, but did not dare to say frankly to his audience: an independent Scotland will be Iceland without the fish, a dependency culture without visible means of support, a basket case bobbing on the remotest beach of Europe.

He had to renounce such arguments, because Salmond mocks the No campaign as ‘Project Fear’; because polls show that Scottish pride is affronted if anybody reminds them how meagre is their income tax base, how feeble is entrepreneurialism north of the border, how drugged on state subsidy their nation has become.

Salmond, one of the most skilful politicians in Britain, handled himself brilliantly. His pronouncements, from the Vladimir Putin school of statesmanship, are delivered with wonderful fluency, heedless of their polarisation from truth. He emphasised again and again the Norwegian model for an independent Scotland, saying nothing of the fact that Norway has vastly more oil and fewer people.

He flatly contradicted Alistair Darling’s assertion that Scotland could not expect to share a common currency with England, saying ‘everything will change in the negotiation if we get a yes vote’. He repeated doggedly again and again: ‘The pound belongs to Scotland as much as to England’, which means nothing.

Tactically, Darling was usually talking sense and Salmond nonsense, but the ex-Chancellor – perhaps the only man to have emerged from service in the Blair-Brown governments with an enhanced reputation – often seemed on the wrong foot.

Nowhere in the debate, whether from the platform, the floor or the so-called expert commentators, were hard questions asked about how Scotland would support itself as an independent country. Salmond asserted that the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies and Office for Budget Responsibility are simply arms of the Westminster government, which deceive Scots by noticing that the North Sea oil take is shrinking fast. He also rejected the IFS calculation that there is a £6billion black hole in SNP spending plans for an independent Scotland.

He spoke as if his country was Saudi Arabia, its only problem how to spend vast natural wealth.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

A pounding for Alex Salmond over currency in big TV debate

Rudd suggests SNP energy policy won’t meet needs

Independence: Fiery debate but no clear winner

Scottish independence essay: Say No to colony myth

'You are really scrabbling around now!' Alistair Darling takes the fight to Alex Salmond in first live TV debate on Scottish independence Daily Mail, Updated

  First Minister and ex-Chancellor take part in live two-debate on STV

  Voters to decide Scotland's fate in historic referendum on September 18

  New IpsosMORI poll puts No campaign on 54% but Yes campaign on 40%

  Up to half a million people are still undecided with just weeks to go 

  No campaign has received £2.6million, ahead of £1.5million for Yes camp

  Cameron, Clegg and Miliband sign joint declaration promising tax powers

Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling have clashed over their competing visions for the future of Scotland in the first live TV debate of the referendum campaign.

But millions of people trying to watch the historic head-to-head were dismayed after the STV website crashed under the intense demand from viewers worldwide.

In the early skirmishes, Mr Salmond repeatedly complained that independence was the only way to prevent a future Tory government while Mr Darling insisted Scotland was stronger as part of the UK.

As the political temperature rose, Mr Darling repeatedly accused Mr Darling of 'scrabbling around', claiming the First Minister has 'lots of good lines but no answers'. 

Voters in Scotland will make their big decision on independence in the historic referendum on September 18.

The No campaign has been consistently ahead in the opinion polls, despite months of intense debate, impassioned pleas and trading of facts and figures. 

One of the biggest threats to the Yes campaign has been growing doubts about the currency an independent Scotland would use

.

After ditching the idea of adopting the euro, the SNP has claimed it would enter a currency union with the UK and continue to use the pound.

But the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems have all made clear they would block a deal, whoever wins the next general election.

Mr Salmond came under intense pressure about how he would continue to use the pound, faltering repeatedly about whether he has a back-up plan.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

“The best way to keep the pound would be through a currency union like today,” said Sir Martin Jacomb, former chairman of Prudential, and Sir Andrew Large, former deputy governor of the Bank of England. This is not compatible with Scotland being politically independent, and is therefore not on offer,”

Record View: Big question still left unanswered after independence referendum debate

Scotland 'likely to be worse off after independence' Daily Telegraph

Economic think tank Fiscal Affairs Scotland draws the conclusion after analysing oil and debt figures produced by both the UK and Scottish Governments.

Scotland is far likelier to be worse off as a separate country, according to an impartial analysis published today as the man who hired Fred Goodwin at RBS accused Westminster of scaremongering over the country’s banks.

Fiscal Affairs Scotland said the wide range of estimates for oil revenue and national debt provided by the UK and Scottish Governments made it impossible to predict exactly what would happen following a Yes vote.

But the economic think tank said that for Scotland to be wealthier, it would have to strike a deal with Westminster to repay only half of its population share of the UK’s national debt while receiving almost twice the predicted income from the North Sea.

If Scotland inherited its full population share of the UK’s national debt, as expected, then oil revenues would have to meet the First Minister’s most optimistic possible forecast if it was not to be poorer.

The analysis was conducted in the wake of the Treasury’s claim the Union is worth £1,400 annually for every Scot, while Mr Salmond claimed independence could be worth £1,000 per person after 15 years.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Alex Salmond's borrowing plans 'prove currency union won't happen'

“Fiscal Affairs Scotland’s independent analysis demonstrates again that the Scottish Government’s fantasy figures do not stand up to scrutiny. A separate Scotland means higher taxes and less money to spend on vital public services.”

Independent Scotland's debt 'would force spending cuts or tax rises'

Scots to to set their own income tax if they reject independence, under deal between Cameron, Clegg and Miliband. Daily Mail

  Joint declaration promises more financial powers if independence is blocked

  David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have backed the deal

  Comes on the day of a TV debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling

  Scotland currently raises 15 per cent of its £30billion budget

David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have signed a joint declaration that promises more financial powers for Scotland if it rejects independence.

The move by the leaders of the three main parties is an attempt to rubbish claims by Alex Salmond that Westminster will not deliver more devolution if Scots vote ‘no’.

It comes ahead of tonight's TV debate between Scottish First Minister Mr Salmond and Alistair Darling, the former Labour Chancellor who fronts the pro-union Better Together campaign.

There are just over six weeks to go until voters in Scotland decide whether to remain in the UK or become an independent nation in the September 18 referendum.

Polls have so far failed to show a majority in favour of independence, but both campaigns are hoping to receive a boost as a result of tonight’s TV debate. The six leaders’ declaration states: ‘We support a strong Scottish Parliament in a strong United Kingdom.

‘We now pledge to strengthen further the powers of the Scottish Parliament, in particular in the areas of fiscal responsibility and social security.’

Currently, control over council tax and business rates means the Scottish Government raises about 15 per cent of its £30billion budget, with the majority of public spending funded by a block grant from the UK Treasury.

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