Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Alex Salmond: “People tell me two things, thank you or sorry”

Alex Salmond in Ellon.
Alex Salmond in Ellon.

The former first minister chats to people all the time on the streets, but he revealed that the two things they now say to him after the referendum are “thank you” or “sorry”.

Mr Salmond brims with pride as he describes the people who thank him for instigating one of the biggest and “most exciting” political campaigns the UK has ever seen.

“For lots and lots of people the referendum experience was the most important and energising thing that has happened to them – that’s what they are thanking me for,” he says.

But he also claims that those from the other camp will apologise to him for not being able to take a chance on Yes, and that some even tell him they regret their decision.

He is very matter-of-fact about this – he is not smug, and appears to not hold anything against those who voted No. He understands.

“It’s not necessarily because they had a change of heart, although some have, but more I think because they were sorry they couldn’t vote Yes,” he says.

“It came down to the Vow, which was designed for the 10% of people who were moving to Yes – the swing voters – who could be persuaded that they could still get progress for Scotland without voting Yes.”

Regardless of which way people voted, it is evident Mr Salmond takes great satisfaction in just knowing they enjoyed the referendum experience.

He said: “Politics became interesting, it became important and it became significant to people and that’s the most amazing thing – and it’s why Scotland is now a much better place.”