EDINBURGH (Reuters) – Supporters of Scottish independence are hoping leader Alex Salmond’s performance in a U.S.-style television debate on Tuesday can boost their campaign, which is lagging in opinion polls with only just over six weeks to go before a referendum.
Surveys show opponents of independence holding on to a substantial lead over those who want to end the 307-year union with England, although as many as a quarter of Scotland’s 4 million voters have yet to decide.
The televised debate, the first of the campaign, pits Salmond, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, against Alistair Darling, head of the “Better Together” anti-independence campaign.
Darling was finance minister in the last British Labour government that was led by fellow Scot and “No” campaigner Gordon Brown.
Pundits say Salmond, 59, the most senior politician in Scotland’s devolved government and driving force behind the independence movement, is favourite to win the two-hour debate, despite the gap in the polls, because of his rhetorical skills.
Darling, 60, is widely viewed as a safe and steady, if uninspiring representative for the Better Together campaign, although he and the Labour party command considerable authority in Scotland.
The latest opinion poll, by Survation, showed that 46 percent of voters would back the “No” campaign against secession and 40 percent would vote in favour, with 14 percent undecided. Some polls show up to a quarter undecided.
Glasgow’s successful staging of the Commonwealth Games, which closed on Sunday, had been seen by some as a chance to attract more independence voters but appears to have had little impact.
Salmond’s supporters argue that Scotland, which has its own parliament and judicial system but lacks substantial tax-raising powers, would be freer, better governed and richer if it broke away.
The “No” campaign argues Scotland would be unable to keep the British pound, that tens of thousands of jobs in the defence and financial sectors would be at risk, and that an independent Scotland might find it hard to rejoin the European Union.
Only Scots living in Scotland can vote in the Sept. 18 referendum and only viewers north of the border with England will be able to watch the debate, which is being shown on local channel STV, after the affiliated network ITV opted not to screen it nationally.
An ITV spokeswoman said they were only showing the debate “in the area where our viewers have a vote in the question under discussion.” ITV will broadcast a gardening show to the rest of Britain.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a move widely seen as an attempt to undermine Salmond, Britain’s three main political parties all said they would seek further powers for Scotland in the event of a “No” vote, in the areas of fiscal responsibility and social security.
Salmond has long demanded a TV debate with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
But the British government has said that Cameron, like other people in England, does not have the right to vote in the referendum and so it would be inappropriate for him to debate with Salmond.
Cameron has warned that a vote for independence would undermine Britain’s global clout and imperil its financial and political stability.
However, he has taken a back seat during the campaign, conceding, according to people close to him, that his centre-right politics – his Conservatives hold just one of 59 Scottish seats in the British parliament – and his privileged background mean he is not the best person to win over Scots.
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