Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and first minister, visits the Barrie Knitwear factory in Hawick, Scotland. The people of Scotland will defy the odds and vote to break away from the rest of the United Kingdom in a referendum a year from now, Salmond said.
The people of Scotland will defy the odds and vote to break away from the rest of the United Kingdom in a referendum a year from now, nationalist leader Alex Salmond said.
Salmond brushed aside respected US pollster Nate Silver’s prediction that he had “virtually no chance” of winning.
In an exclusive interview in a knitwear factory in the Scottish border town of Hawick, Salmond said: “Nate Silver doesn’t know as much about Scottish politics as he does undoubtedly about American politics.
“And I suppose since we are in a famous knitwear factory here, we should probably tell him to stick to his own knitting,” he laughed.
With 13 months to go until the historic vote on September 18, 2014, only a third of Scotland’s 5.5mn-strong population are currently planning to vote in favour of independence, according to opinion polls.
But Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and first minister of Scotland’s devolved government, insisted he had plenty of time to convince voters that splitting from Britain is in their economic and political interests.
“We’ll win the arguments,” he insisted. As Prime Minister David Cameron grapples with Britain’s future role in Europe, Salmond contrasted his vision of the role for an independent Scotland in the European Union with London’s ambivalent approach.
“Scotland would be a much more outward-looking participant and member of Europe than London has been, certainly recently,” Salmond said. “Yes, there are things to be solved, but let’s solve them together as opposed to threatening to stamp your feet all the time.”
Salmond insisted that Nato, as well as the EU, would welcome an independent Scotland with open arms, despite his critics’ claims that membership of both could run into difficulties.
Anti-nuclear Salmond is engaged in a heated row with London over the future of the Trident nuclear submarine base - currently located on the River Clyde in western Scotland - if the union splits.
He denied reports that Nato has told Scotland it would not be allowed to join the military alliance if there was an ongoing dispute over Trident, which Salmond wants to move out of Scotland if he wins independence.
Keeping the base as a British enclave in an independent country would not be an option, he added. “Nobody seriously thinks that London is going to be allowed to annexe some part of Scotland just because it wants to retain it,” he said.