Scottish independence: Both sides claim TV debate victory



Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling clashed over the currency and whether Scotland could be prosperous post-Independence

Both sides of the independence debate have insisted their side came out on top in the TV head to head between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling.
The Yes campaign claimed Mr Salmond did more to win over undecided voters on whether an independent Scotland would be a fairer society.
But Better Together said the debate highlighted Mr Salmond's lack of a Plan B on what currency Scotland would use.
The STV debate came six weeks ahead of the 18 September vote.
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, a leading figure in the Better Together campaign, told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme the debate was a "hugely significant, perhaps decisive" moment in the campaign.
He said: "Alistair Darling was asking the questions that millions of us, as Scots, are wanting the answers to, most notably 'what would the currency be?
"We know the capital would be Edinburgh, we know the flag would be the Saltire - but we still don't know what the currency would be with just six weeks to go."
He added: "It seems this morning that a new definition of scaremongering is asking the first minister a question he can't answer."
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Alex Salmond repeatedly asks Alistair Darling: "Do you agree with David Cameron?"

The Yes campaign's chief executive Blair Jenkins claimed Better Together's "Project Fear" style of campaigning meant they were unable to accept Scotland could be a prosperous independent country.
He said: "Alistair Darling could not bring himself to use the word 'Yes' in answer to the question 'Could Scotland be a successful independent country?'
"So negative is the No campaign it seems that they have excised the word 'Yes' from any possible usage.
"This referendum is going to be won in the millions of conversations going on around Scotland right now and over the next six weeks.




Analysis by Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland political Editor

How to sum up the televised encounter? Today, away from the eager vacuity of spin, Alex Salmond turned to a great icon of the 20th century for inspiration.
Gandhi perhaps? JFK? Nelson Mandela? Not quite.
Mr Salmond's guru of choice was Zsa Zsa Gabor.
The FM's view of his opponent, Alistair Darling, was that "macho doesn't prove mucho".
Apparently, Mr Salmond reckons that finger-jabbing repetition of a question about "Currency Plan B" does not a debate make.
Which, when you think about it, is rather intriguing, given that the common presumption in advance was that it was Mr Darling who should fear hectoring from t'other side.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...itics-28673046