Scotland’s deputy first minister has appealed to Labour and Conservative supporters to back independence.
Nicola Sturgeon said the opportunity for the country to take charge of its affairs was an attractive proposition and claimed anecdotal evidence suggested there was already “significant movement” away from a No vote among traditional Labour supporters.
Speaking at St Andrews University yesterday, Ms Sturgeon argued that the “transformational potential of independence” was the “over-riding” reason to vote Yes on September 18. “Party loyalty should not be a decisive factor in this debate,” she added.
“Indeed, I would have thought that for most Tory voters the idea of a parliament that has the power not just to spend money but also responsibility to raise it and be accountable for how it does so, would be inherently appealing.”
Afterwards, Ms Sturgeon said Labour supporters represented “a section of population where we are starting to see significant movement towards the Yes campaign”.
“The argument that is very powerful with Labour voters is the argument of making sure that we have the ability in Scotland to have the kind of economy and society that we want to have, and not one that is determined by Tory governments that we don’t vote for.
“I struggle to understand why a Labour politician would prefer to have a Tory prime minister in Downing Street than have a Labour prime minister in Edinburgh.”
A Scottish Labour spokeswoman dismissed the deputy SNP leader’s remarks and said she should be aware that more than a third of SNP supporters do not support breaking up the UK.
“Perhaps she would be better trying to persuade her own voters rather than trying to re-write the history of the Labour movement, which has always rejected the Nationalists’ politics of division and grievance,” she added.
Conservative MSP Annabel Goldie claimed the Scottish Government’s White Paper on independence failed to answer crucial questions on issues like the pound and European Union membership and “creates more confusion than clarity”.
“In stark contrast, we know that devolution gives us the best of both worlds with twice as many Scots supporting this compared with independence,” she added.