The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Don’t go, Cameron urges Scots
DA VID CA MERON evoked his own family’s Scottish heritage as he delivered a heartfelt plea for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom.
In his highest-profile intervention in the debate on Scottish independence, the Prime Minister warned that the world would lose “something very powerful and precious” if the UK’s “family of nations” broke up forever.
But First Minister A lex Salmond accused Mr Cameron of making a “bogus” argument and repeated his challenge for the Prime Minister to agree to a head-to-head debate on the issue.
Mr Cameron called on the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland to send a message to Scotland as it prepares to vote on September 18: “We want you to stay.”
Independence would be bad for Scotland but would also leave the United Kingdom “deeply diminished” and would “rip the rug from under our own reputation” in the world, Mr Cameron said.
He warned supporters of the union that they have only “seven months to save the most extraordinary country in history”.
Recalling that the name Cameron stems from the West Highlands, the Prime Minister said he was “proud” of his Scottish heritage and pointed out that the clan motto is “let us unite”.
Mr Cameron defended the decision to deliver the speech in London, arguing that he was making the case for the rest of the UK to speak out on the issue and stressed that he would soon be visiting Scotland along with the entire UK Cabinet.
The Prime Minister has previously acknowledged that his image as a “Tory toff from the Home Counties” does not make him a good figurehead for the No campaign in the referendum debate.
But he said: “Frankly, I care far too much to stay out of it. This is personal.
“Our great United Kingdom — brave, brilliant, buccaneering, generous, tolerant, proud — this is our country. A nd we built it together. Brick by brick, Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, brick by brick.
“This is our home — and I could not bear to see that home torn apart. I love this country.
“I love the United Kingdom and all it stands for. A nd I will fight with all I have to keep us together.”
Speaking in the velodrome where he watched Scottish cyclist Sir Chris Hoy win Olympic gold in 2012, Mr Cameron said the London Games were an example of the “power of collaboration” which has given the nations of the UK a big place in the world.
Name-checking UK-wide assets from the BBC, the NHS and the armed forces to the country’s place in the UN Security Council, Nato and the G8, and cultural “icons” such as Sherlock Holmes, Emeli Sande and Scotch whisky, the Prime Minister said: “We come as a brand — a powerful brand. “If we lost Scotland, if the UK changed, we would rip the rug from under our own reputation. The plain fact is, we matter more in the world together.”
He said there was a moral case for preserving the union which had made the UK “a country that has never been cowed by bullies and dictators, a country that stands for something”.
But Mr Salmond accused the Prime Minister of being a member of an “out-of-touch Westminster elite” and insisted an independent Scotland would maintain close ties with the rest of the UK.
The SNP leader said: “A n independent Scotland will be the best of friends and neighbours with the other nations of these islands, with the closest of family, cultural and business ties.”