Pro-independence campaigners should be careful what they presume about their fellow Scots, a leading politics expert has warned
Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said there was a presumption that Scotland was a “little more left wing than England” and this was something he generally agreed with.
But he warned that in the event of a Yes vote, there was always the chance that independence could lead to the reincarnation of the centre right with the “son of conservatism” being born in Scotland in 30 years’ time.
The comment was made by Professor Curtice as he lined up in the latest and final Courier referendum debate on Thursday evening alongside Yes Scotland chairman Dennis Canavan and Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty.
After weeks of referendum roadshows across Courier Country which saw lively debates in Dundee, Arbroath and Perth, the final touring Courier debate on the independence referendum came to a lively end in Dunfermline.
Chaired by Courier political editor Kieran Andrews, the heated 90-minute debate at the Carnegie Conference Centre covered everything from defence jobs to racism, from EU membership to the role of a future independent Scotland’s military.
Opening the debate, Dennis Canavan, a late convert to independence after 26 years as a Labour MP and eight years as an independent MSP, said retirement had given him time to reflect and he had concluded that Westminster was “totally out of touch with Scotland”.
A vote for independence would be a vote to “empower Scotland and make it better, more prosperous and fairer”, he said.
Thomas Docherty said the debate shouldn’t be about party politics. He believed the Yes campaigners’ arguments had “fallen apart”. He said the “socialist utopia” had not been delivered in 15 years of a Scottish Parliament.
A week ahead of the Queen naming the Queen Elizabeth carrier at Rosyth, he said staying as part of UK would give opportunities to work at Rosyth for generations to come.
Public questions ranged from what would be the biggest disadvantages of independence/staying in the UK to concerns about unemployment.
Asked at the end ‘should Scotland be an independent country?’, a show of hands indicated that the audience was overwhelmingly against independence.