The former boss of the Royal Horticultural Society has started a petition to convince Scots to vote against independence in September.
Andrew Colquhoun, who is also a former chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, said he wanted to “change the terms” of the constitutional debate, and inject some emotion into the pro-UK case.
The petition is “addressed to the people of Scotland from your friends elsewhere in the United Kingdom” and said it offers “no comment on the economic or political case for independence”.
With the message that “we are family”, the petition states: “For Scotland now to leave the UK would be as if a brother or sister told us that they didn’t love us anymore. It would hurt.”
About 400 people had backed the online campaign by yesterday afternoon. It was started about two weeks ago.
Mr Colquhoun was director general of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1999 to 2006, during which time Alness won the organisation’s Britain in Bloom “champion of champions” title, and Aberdeen was named “best city”.
He said: “The people of the UK outside Scotland may not have a vote in the referendum. But they do have feelings.
“Too much of the debate so far has just been about economics, business and politics. But the Union is so much more than that.
“We want to change the terms of the discussion so that people have the chance to express those feelings too.”