Salmond torpedoes Sturgeon over Brexit

UK split is ‘inevitable’ if it’s Leave in big vote

SCOTLAND will ‘inevitably’ become independent if Britain leaves the European Union, according to Alex Salmond.

The former First Minister said that ‘an act of collective madness by our neighbours in England’ voting for Brexit would lead to a surge in support for tearing Scotland out of the UK.

But his comments are humiliating for Nicola Sturgeon, who has been trying to play down the prospect of a rerun of the 2014 referendum in the event of Britain leaving the EU.

During Thursday evening’s ITV debate with Boris Johnson, the First Minister looked riled by claims she is ‘not a democrat’ because she wants Scotland to leave the UK despite the resounding No vote.

In response, she said she was ‘not here tonight to speculate about the results of a Brexit vote’.

However, at exactly the same time, Alex Salmond said in a debate at Oxford University that Brexit would make independence inevitable.

While dismissing some of the ‘fearmongering’ from fellow Remain campaigners, he said he agreed with former Prime Minister Sir John Major ‘that Scottish independence would inevitably result from a Brexit vote in England’.

Mr Salmond added: ‘I would prefer the people of Scotland to take that decision in the time of their choice, not because they’re bounced into it by an act of collective madness by our neighbours in England, which is what Brexit would be to this country.’

Miss Sturgeon has recently taken on a prominent role campaigning across the UK for a Remain vote.

But she has deliberately tried to avoid talk of independence amid fears from some Remain campaigners that it could anger potential supporters and encourage proindependence voters to back Leave.

When asked about the prospect of a second independence referendum in another media appearance in London on Friday, Miss Sturgeon snapped back: ‘I’m not here to talk about what might happen in the scenario of an Out vote.’

However, Mr Salmond, who is now the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, took a very different approach at a debate at the Oxford Union, where he savaged fellow campaigners.

He said: ‘You shall not hear from me tonight that a Brexit vote would result in economic Armageddon – I wouldn’t argue that case. I’ve seen too much fearmongering in campaigns. There will be an economic cost, certainly, but not economic

‘Independence would result’

Armageddon. You won’t hear me saying Brexit will result in World War Three. I don’t believe that either.

‘There are many generations in this debating hall tonight but we are the only generation for 2,000 years who have not lived with the threat of war between Western European nations and I do think the European Union has contributed to that. One hundred years after the Great War, we shouldn’t fling that away lightly.’

However, Mr Salmond said he did agree with Sir John Major that a Brexit would destabilise the UK.

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: ‘It’s embarrassing for Nicola Sturgeon that, while she desperately tried to keep to her script, her predecessor was trumpeting from quite another.

‘The SNP’s only real interest in the EU question is whether or not it will make Scottish independence more likely.

‘At least Alex Salmond was able to admit this much.’