Salmond bounces back: SNP leader crushes weak Darling in second TV debate and pulls his dream of Scottish independence back from the brink
Mr Salmond easily won the crunch debate, according to a snap
poll. Some 71 per cent of voters said the SNP leader was the victor.
Just 29 per cent thought Mr Darling had won the contest. The victory is a
dramatic turn around for Mr Salmond who was left flailing earlier this
month after Mr Darling challenged him over the economy and the future of
the pound.
Salmond bounces back: SNP leader crushes weak Darling in second TV debate and pulls his dream of Scottish independence back from the brink
- First Minister and ex-Chancellor took part in live 90 minute debate on BBC
- Voters to decide Scotland's fate in historic referendum on September 18
- Snap Guardian/ICM poll showed 71% of voters thought Salmond had won
- Up to half a million people are still undecided with just weeks to go
- Pair clashed over the future of the pound in an independent Scotland
- Mr Darling admitted Scotland could use sterling without the UK's permission
- SNP leader Mr Salmond accepted Scotland could adopt other currencies
- Debate descended into slanging match after Mr Salmond went on attack
Scotland's
First Minister Alex Salmond last night crushed Alistair Darling in the
second independence debate - just three weeks before the country goes to
the polls on September 18.
Mr
Salmond easily won the contest according to a snap poll. Some 71 per
cent of voters said the SNP leader was the victor. Just 29 per cent
thought Mr Darling had won the contest.
Last
night's victory is a dramatic turn around for Mr Salmond who was left
flailing earlier this month after Mr Darling successfully challenged him
over the economy and the future of the pound.
But
last night Mr Salmond came armed with a number of currency options for
an independent Scotland, but insisted keeping the pound was the best. Mr
Darling meanwhile was left repeating his criticism that Mr Salmond had
not offered a plan B if Westminster stopped Scotland using sterling.
While
Mr Salmond emerged the clear winner, his aggressive debating style left
many viewers unhappy. At one point the pair were repeatedly shouting
over each other to be heard.
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Alex Salmond (right) and Alistair Darling (left) clashed in last night's heated live television debate on the BBC
Scotland's First Minister want on the
attack, accusing Mr Darling of being a 'one trick pony' by brining up
the future of the pound
Former Labour Chancellor Mr Darling
was put on the backfoot by Mr Salmond after the SNP leader offered a
number of alternative currency options to the pound
The
Scottish First Minister went on the attack immediately - questioning
what would happen to the NHS, welfare and oil under Tory rule from
London after 2015.
Mr
Salmond also claimed the former Labour Chancellor had made the ‘biggest
revelation’ in the independence debate so far after he admitted
Scotland could use the pound without the rest of the UK’s permission
after independence.
But
Mr Darling said this would leave Scotland at the mercy of a ‘foreign
country’ telling it how much it could spend like Eurozone countries
which have to get their budgets signed off in Brussels.
Mr Salmond also admitted for the first time that there were other options for Scotland than keeping the pound.
He
said: ‘I'm looking for a mandate to share sterling in a currency union.’
But he added: ‘There are other options for Scotland.’
However
Mr Darling said: ‘The thing about a currency union is both sides have
to agree to it. We are talking about a huge risk if we assume it’s going
to fall into line.
‘It’s
not a matter for Alex Salmond what the alternative is. If it’s the
Panama model I want to know. If it’s the Euro I don’t want that either. I
want to know what plan B is.’
But after being pressed by Mr Salmond he admitted: ‘We could us the pound.’
First Minister Alex Salmond gets his make-make up during an interval in the second television debate last night
Former Chancellor Alistair Darling was left reeling after Mr Salmond went all out attack
Mr
Salmond said: ‘Alistair admitted we could use the pound anyway. They
cannot stop us using the pound – the most important revelation in this
debate.’
The pair also clashed over North Sea oil and the NHS.
The SNP leader said every other country in Europe would give their ‘eye teeth’ for North Sea oil.
But
Mr Darling said: ‘Once it’s gone it’s gone. What I don’t want to see is
my country so dependent on something that is so volatile.’
He
added: ‘He is asking us to take his word on everything. ‘We need
answers to tonight, right here right now. Are we going to place all our
bets on Alex Salmond alone being right?’
Mr Darling said: ‘This is a decision for which there is no turning back.’
But
Mr Salmond said: ‘This is an extraordinary time for us all. The eyes of
the world and, indeed, focus is on Scotland.’ He added: There is much
far too much, far too much, that is still controlled in Westminster. We
couldn't stop the bedroom tax, we couldn't stop illegal wars.’
He
added: ‘Three weeks on Thursday we can take things back to Scottish
hands. Absolutely no-one, non-one, can run the affairs of Scotland
better than the people of Scotland.’
Mr Salmond added: ‘This is our time, it’s our moment, let us do it now.’
The audience loudly cheered on a number of occasions after Mr Salmond attacked the Labour MP's arguments
Mr Darling, the leader of the Better Together campaign, looked ruffled after the debate
The debate descended into an ugly slanging match during a section in which the pair were able to interrogate each other.
Mr
Salmond adopted an aggressive strategy – consistently interrupting his
opponent – sparking accusations that his tone could put off voters.
Tory
MP Conor Burns said: 'Salmond's bullying and hectoring tone towards
Darling may explain why more women are voting No. Very unattractive
debating style. No humour.'
Mr
Darling chose to question the SNP leader about the currency. Mr Salmond
said: ‘I’ve heard of one-trick ponies, but this is the most
extraordinary thing tonight.’
Scotland’s
First Minister said he had given him three plan Bs, but would fight to
keep the pound. He said Scotland could adopt currencies like the
Scandinavian states like Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
He added: ‘You admitted it earlier we could be stopped from falling using the pound.’
But
Mr Darling said the SNP leader was not giving a straight answer. He
said Mr Salmond was not telling the Scottish voters which option he
would prefer if Westminster rejected a currency union.
Lib
Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander backed Mr Darling.
On Twitter he wrote: ‘Darling right Salmond refusing to give a straight
answer on currency, on oil, on public services - SNP plans don't add
up.’
The debate between the former Labour Chancellor Darling and Mr Salmond (right) descended into an ugly slanging match
The Scottish rivals greeted each other amicably at the start of the second TV debate in Glasgow but soon exchanged strong words
Last
night's debate, just three weeks next month's referendum, was being
touted beforehand as Mr Salmond’s ‘last opportunity’ to convince Scots
to back independence.
More
than 700,000 postal voters – nearly a fifth of Scotland's electorate –
will receive their ballots tomorrow, ahead of the September 18
referendum.
A
recent poll of polls found 57 per cent of Scots will vote No to
independence on September 18, while 43 per cent plan to vote Yes.
The
leaders' first live debate on August 5 was widely seen as a victory for
Mr Darling, after the former Chancellor cornering the SNP leader over
Scotland’s future currency.
Last
night's 90-minute event was held at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
in Glasgow in front of an audience of 200 people selected by polling and
research consultancy ComRes.
Beforehand,
Prof John Curtice of Stratchlyde University said Mr Salmond had to land
significant blows – or see his dream of independence vanish.
He
said: 'With the Yes side still behind in the polls and postal voting
forms about to land on doormats, the encounter will be [Mr Salmond's]
last opportunity to get his message across to a mass audience.'
Mr
Salmond has been under sustained pressure to reveal his ‘Plan B’ if
Westminster blocks his preferred option of keeping the pound in a
currency union with the remainder of the UK.
The First Minister has dismissed this as pre-referendum posturing, and insisted Scotland will keep the pound ‘come what may’.
Ahead of the debate the ‘Yes’ campaign went on the attack over the threat to Scotland’s public services by staying in the UK.
The SNP wants to convince voters that only independence can protect Scotland from further austerity and privatisation.
In
an interview in the Guardian, Scotland’s deputy first minister Nicola
Sturgeon said: ‘A few months after the referendum we may find ourselves
waking up to another five years of a Conservative government that we
didn't vote for.'
She
said the next Tory government would be ‘intent on implementing further
cuts and austerity that will hit our public services and hit the most
vulnerable in our society’.
Ms
Sturgeon added that Scotland would also be ‘looking at the prospect of
an in/out EU referendum that runs the risk of Scotland being taken out
of the European Union against our will’.
She
said: ‘The key thing if we don't vote yes is that all these key
decisions that shape our future will be taken not by us but by
Westminster as we are left on the sidelines complaining and wishing it
were different.’
Last week the Scottish government's health secretary Alex Neil accused Mr Darling of being ‘defender-in-chief of Tory cuts’.
But
a Better Together spokesman said: ‘The biggest threat to our public
services in Scotland, like our schools and our NHS, is the £6 billion
extra spending cuts the impartial experts at the Institute for Fiscal
Studies say would be needed if we vote for separation. The reality is
that independence would mean austerity plus.’
Gordon
Brown last week unveiled new research showing that each Scot currently
receives £200 more in health care spending a year than the average
Englishman.
‘The
only person who could privatise the NHS in Scotland today is actually
Alex Salmond,’ the former Labour leader told party activists during a
speech in Glasgow.
Last
year Scottish health care spending was the equivalent of £2,116 per
person – far higher than the £1,912 in England and £1,964 in Wales,
figures showed.
Furthermore,
Scotland in total receives around £950 million more towards health care
than it would if the allocation was worked out by population share.
RECAP: How Darling left Salmond reeling in round one after landing blow over the future of the pound
In the last debate the Scottish First Minister took a pounding over how his dream of independence would work in practice.
Mr
Salmond was widely considered to have lost in the battle with Mr
Darling after floundering when questioned about a future currency and
labelled 'snide' by audience members.
Better Together leader Mr Darling shed his reputation for being dull to go on the attack.
Mr
Darling branded plans to keep the pound 'stupidity on stilts' and
accused the Yes campaign of using figures based on 'guess work, blind
faith and crossed fingers'.
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.
A
snap exit poll by ICM for the Guardian of more than 500 viewers found
that 56 per cent believed Mr Darling won, with just 44 per cent backing
the SNP leader.
HOW THE STARS ARE LINING UP
FOR INDEPENDENCE
Sir Sean Connery
Actor Sir Sean Connery: 'The people of Scotland are the best guardians of their own future'.
Actor Alan Cumming : 'The world is waiting for us. I know Scotland is ready.''
The
Proclaimers: 'Scotland has huge national resources, with its people,
its wave power – all the possibilities that this country has...we need
to take charge of our own affairs'
Comedian Kevin Bridges: 'If the referendum was tomorrow, I'd probably vote yes.'
AGAINST INDEPENDENCE
David Bowie
David Bowie: 'Scotland, stay with us.'
Singer Rod Stewart : 'I'd hate to see the Union broken after all these years — and I don't think it will happen.'
Cyclist
Sir Chris Hoy said: 'I've said numerous times how proud I am to be
Scottish and how proud I have been to compete for Britain too. I don't
think these two things necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.'
Ewan
McGregor: 'I'm a Scotsman and I love Scotland with all my heart. But I
also like the idea of Great Britain, and I don't know that it wouldn't
be a terrible shame to break it all up.'
Susan Boyle: 'I am a proud, patriotic Scot, passionate about my heritage and my country. But I am not a nationalist.'
Billy
Connolly: 'I don't believe in having more layers of government that
ordinary people will have to pay for. I think it's time for people to
get together, not split apart.'
Wee
Jimmy Krankie aka Janette Tough: 'Alex Salmond can sod off 'cos I don't
want it. We don't live in Scotland so we won't get to vote and I don't
think it's fair.'
KEEPING QUIET
Andy Murray
Singer
Annie Lennox: 'It will be taken by the citizens of Scotland themselves,
who need to seriously weigh up the pros and cons, as the responsibility
lies wholeheartedly upon their shoulders.'
Tennis
player Andy Murray: 'It's very difficult to have an opinion these days
because half the people will agree with you and half of the people will
think you're an absolute idiot'
Actor
James McAvoy: ''I won't be getting involved at all. It's just
counter-productive to my job, it's not what I do, and I don't think it's
helpful to have me involved in it.'
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