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 vows to unite behind Nicola Sturgeon in new Yes campaign

Alex Salmond

Alex Salmond has told Nicola Sturgeon he will unite behind her as leader of a new Yes campaign if she finally fires the “starting gun” on a second independence referendum.

The former first minister urged his successor to seize the “opportunity” to pile the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he fights for his future.

Mr Salmond mocked the SNP’s botched handling of Scotland’s census, but said the Holyrood administration’s “quite substantial” policy performance problems were nothing compared to the “incompetence and corruption” witnessed at Westminster.

He was speaking to the BBC as the Scottish Government prepares to reignite the constitutional debate by publishing a series of papers setting out its refreshed vision of an independent Scotland by the end of this month.

Independence blueprint

Mr Salmond welcomed the arrival of the updated blueprint.

But he questioned why it had taken so long and why the SNP had not made progress on securing a mechanism for holding the vote, including by asking the UK Government to agree to a section 3o order to give Holyrood the powers to make the arrangements.

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

“Presumably the Scottish Government are worried that Boris Johnson is going to say ‘no’, but I’d have thought you have to kick off that campaign,” he told Gary Robertson on The Sunday Show.

“If you know he is going to say ‘no’, you have to let him say ‘no’, and then do something about it.

“It’s not really a strategy by just not asking the question. You have to ask the question if you are to mobilise a campaign – a political campaign, a legal campaign, a diplomatic campaign – to change his mind.

‘Scotland’s opportunity’

“I mean, I would have thought that this is a rather good time to put pressure on the Westminster government. I mean the Boris Johnson difficulties are Scotland’s opportunity.”

The Alba Party leader accepted that the Yes campaign would be led by Ms Sturgeon, despite the pair’s bitter fall-out over the handling of harassment allegations against Mr Salmond.

“Nicola has been elected as the head of the Scottish Government. Inevitably she will lead the independence campaign,” he said.

“Listen, there will be no problem with unity in the independence campaign once the starting gun is fired.”

The Sunday Times reported that Professor John Kay, who served on the Scottish council of economic advisers, was warning in a new book that an independent Scotland would be saddled with £180 billion of debt and be forced to borrow £20 billion annually to plug a financial black hole.

But Mr Salmond claimed the case for going it alone was stronger now than in 2014.

He added: “The SNP have pledged that there is going to be a referendum next year, no ‘ifs’, no ‘buts’.

“The constitutional secretary (Angus Robertson) said that as much in the Scottish Parliament last week, and now he is finished with the census, no doubt he will be able to turn his mind to it.

“But that is the promise that has been made, and everybody else in the independence movement must take that at their word – that they a plan, a strategy, to deliver that independence referendum next year.”