McConnell warns of SNP ‘robbing’ Scots of Union

Labour’s Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale, Scotland’s first minister from 2001 to 2007, warned the pro-Union parties not to let the SNP steal a march on them.

His remarks came the day after an opinion poll put the pro-independence case ahead by one percentage point, with nearly a quarter of people undecided.

Predicting a referendum in 2014, Lord McConnell said: “The next three or four years are going to be very uncertain for Scotland – uncertain for people who want to invest in Scotland, uncertain for the people of Scotland more generally.

“At the moment, one side has the absolute power to shape the terms on which that referendum will take place.

“Unfortunately, it is also true that only one side is even on the park playing in this match.

“The Scottish football team had another disaster at the weekend and we have learned in Scotland regularly to take an approach after these games of ‘we were robbed’.

“We are in great danger of having a referendum in which afterwards potentially a majority of the Scottish population realise something has happened and feel ‘we were robbed’.

“It will not be good enough for the mainstream political parties in the UK and other organisations to adopt that approach of ‘we were robbed’ afterwards.”

And Liberal Democrat Lord Steel of Aikwood, the first presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, warned that there was a danger of “sleepwalking into independence”.