Indy debate heats up as First Minister opens Highland 'Yes' battle base
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THE FIRST MINISTER has opened a base for his Independence campaign in the Highlands.
Alex Salmond was greeted by a crowd of around 150 people, including several in kilts and a toddler in a T-shirt bearing the message: “Make my future Scottish”.
The SNP leader cut a blue ribbon held by five-year-old Breagha Gowans from Inverness and spent an hour signing copies of the Scottish Government’s white paper Scotland’s Future.
He said the new Union Street hub was one of the many Yes campaign bases across the country that would help carry the party to victory on the 18th September - and said everyone was getting caught up in the whirlwind.
“I met two people today who left Scotland in a previous generation and who came back because of the excitement of the independence campaign. If that happens during the campaign what do you think is going to happen when we actually become independent?” he said.
The shop opens less than a fortnight after 60 pro-union supporters gathered at Castle Street to see Alistair Darling MP attend the launch of the Better Together campaign’s city base.
The two sides are staging several debates over the city and the surrounding area over the coming weeks and winning the hearts and minds of business owners has been a key battleground.
A new poll showed 68 per cent of north east business leaders were opposed to independence and in Highland nearly half of those surveyed by the Federation of Small Businesses said information from both sides of the campaign was so paltry it was impossible to make up their minds.
Kit Fraser, of Hootananny pub on Church Street, is “torn in two” by the referendum debate and said he may not even vote if he cannot make up his mind.
“It’s a battle between the heart and the mind, the wallet versus the soul,” he said. The entrepreneur believes small businesses would be worse-off financially, but possibly only in the short term and said a smaller government would probably mean lower taxes.
He said: “Independence does not make financial sense as a businessman in the short term but on the other hand the Scottish personality is very different to the English. It’s much more socialist.”
He added: “In a way there’s a financial argument for independence. Everyone knows massive companies don’t pay tax. It’s the four million entrepreneurs who employ 60 per cent of the workforce who do that. But not as much tax would need to be raised in a small country.”
Mr Salmond said the 2,000 people who had joined Business for Scotland, a cooperatively owned business network for pro-independence business people and professionals, couldn’t all be wrong.
He added: “The greatest entrepreneur and job creator that Scotland has at the present moment is Jim McColl, who is a foremost advocate of Scottish independence. The greatest entrepreneur that Scotland has had in the last generation, Brian Souter of the FTSE 100 company Stagecoach, is a foremost advocate of Scottish Independence.”
Meanwhile a flooring specialist from Evanton said his long-emigrated Canadian relatives were considering coming back to Scotland in the event of Independence.
Kevin Marshall, of Swordale Road, was in the crowd on Saturday with his father James Marshall (68) and his six-year-old daughter Amy.
Mr Marshall (41) said 16 Canadian relatives visited the area after his grandmother Esther from Evanton died in March, and several said they would return to Scotland retire if the SNP won the Independence vote.
He added: “My granny was nearly 100 when she died and she was SNP all her life. I took some of the Canadians to a referendum debate in Dingwall when the secret ballot came out as 63 yes and 25 no. A couple of them were even saying the might move back to retire in the event of a yes vote.”
Mr Marshall said the First Minister spoke to the family at the event. “Amy was the first that he had a wee chat with inside the shop. The three of us had a wee laugh together, we got some pictures taken and our booklets signed. Amy was so excited.”
