Aberdeen’s Music Hall was the venue for an independence debate among senior Scottish politicians and businessmen this evening.
Deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon and pro-independence businessman, Sir Brian Souter, went head-to-head with Labour MP Jim Murphy and former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Annabel Goldie.
The debate was televised live by the BBC, and took questions from audience members over such issues as currency, defence, education and taxation.
During the debate Mrs Sturgeon said she was “passionate” about free education in Scotland, and that she would never support the introduction of tuition fees in the country.
Mrs Sturgeon said: “I don’t want to charge anyone for education wherever they come from but we have to do that now and we will have to continue to do it because Westminster has imposed sky high tuition fees in the rest of the UK.”
Mr Murphy said the Labour party would set out its policies on tuition fees “in its next manifesto”, adding that education as a devolved issue meant that Scots had “the best of both worlds”.
The panelists were also quizzed on whether Scotland would be more vulnerable to terrorism as an independent country.
East Renfrewshire MP, Mr Murphy, said that terrorism was a threat to all nations, and that the SNP had not been clear enough on their answer to Britain’s armed forces in an independent Scotland.
Mr Souter said: “Common sense tells me we would be less vulnerable.”
When asked whether taxes would rise within an independent Scotland, Mrs Sturgeon responded by saying there would be need for taxes to go up in the country.
However, Mr Murphy added that Scotland currently gets more back than it contributes in tax.
Mr Murphy also accused the Yes campaign of being unable to clarify which currency Scotland would use.
When quizzed on the topic of which currency Scotland would use following a Yes vote, Mrs Sturgeon insisted “the answer is the pound”.
Ms Goldie accused the SNP of overestimating oil revenues in their white paper on independence, while Mrs Sturgeon accused the Better Together campaign of being “serial misleaders” when it came to Scottish finances.
The debaters were also quizzed on the rise in support in Scotland for UKIP during this year’s European elections, which Mrs Sturgeon described as “pretty terrifying”.
However, Ms Goldie said “the uncertainty caused by the prospect of independence” was more of a threat than the rise of UKIP.