Alex Salmond’s voting No... and Nicola Sturgeon’s still undecided
ALEX Salmond insists he will vote No to Scottish independence – while Nicola Sturgeon claims she is still ‘undecided’.
But this unexpected turn of events doesn’t represent a sudden crisis of confidence within the Yes camp.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday has tracked down some of the surprising number of Scots who share their names with the prominent SNP leaders.
With just a month to go until the referendum, we travelled the country to find out the voting intentions of Scotland’s other Alex Salmonds and Nicola Sturgeons.
Alexander Salmond, 63, from the Sighthill area of Edinburgh, does not share his namesake’s political views and is keen to save the Union.
The retired council roads worker, known as ‘Alec’, said: ‘I plan to vote No next month – I’ve listened to all the arguments and I think we are better together. There are just too many “ifs” and “buts” coming from the other side.
‘I’ve been a Labour man all my days and have never voted for Alex Salmond. I like him because he’s a good Hearts FC man but I don’t agree with his politics. I’m a couple of years older than the First Minister, so I like to think that he shares my name rather than the other way around – I came first.
‘When I say my name on the phone, people often think it’s a prank, and I’ve had a couple of letters sent to my house from constituents asking for help, thinking I’m the politician.’
Mr Salmond revealed his son, who is also called Alexander Salmond, is a big supporter of the Yes campaign – leading to dinner-table arguments.
He added: ‘My lad always goes daft when I tell him I’m against independence. He’s the complete opposite and is a real Yes man.’
The 24-year-old student said: ‘It was my name that got me interested in politics. When I was eight I realised there was a famous Alex Salmond and I guess I wanted to be like him.’
Nicola Sturgeon, 29, from Rutherglen, Glasgow, is still not sure how she is going to vote: ‘People tend to presume I’m proindependence just because of my name, but I’m still very much undecided.
‘Taxi drivers always seem disappointed when I appear as they are expecting the other Nicola. One guy last week said he’d prepared a five-minute rant about why he thought we should stay in the Union.’
Another Nicola Sturgeon, 38, from Cardonald, Glasgow, will be voting for independence – ‘We can’t be worse off than we are now, so why not just go for it?’ – but adds: ‘I’m not a huge fan of Nicola Sturgeon to be honest – she and I are not alike despite sharing the same name. I don’t think any of the politicians have argued particularly well.
‘My family say that I’m the real Nicola Sturgeon – so that’s good enough for me.’