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 With three weeks to go until a referendum on independence, 200
Scottish business leaders, including Stagecoach head Brian Souter
and engineering tycoon Jim McColl of Clyde Blowers, joined forces in
a letter published in Glasgow newspaper The Herald on Thursday
backing Scotland's breakaway.
A day earlier, a group of 130 business leaders, among them the heads
of giants BHP Billiton, temporary power provider Aggreko and HSBC
bank, had signed an open letter opposing independence, saying
nationalists had failed to make the business case for an independent
Scotland.
Many companies, large and small, had previously refused to take
sides in the highly-charged debate.
A number of questions remain over the financial and economic
arrangements of an independent Scotland, including what currency it
would use, EU membership, and the future of North Sea oil.
Several recent polls have shown support for independence pushing
higher. But the most recent "poll of polls", on Aug. 15, which was
based on an average of the last six polls and excluded undecided
respondents, found support for a breakaway stood at 43 percent
against 57 percent for remaining within Britain.
The pro-independence letter said the end of the 307-year-old union
with England would give Scotland the powers "to give our many areas
of economic strength even more of an advantage in an increasingly
competitive world".
"I think it would be good for the whole of Scotland... we will be
able to control our own financial affairs and stimulate our own
economy," Sandy Adam, chairman of Springfield Properties Plc, told
BBC Radio.
Cameron has taken a low-profile role in the debate, aware that his
privileged English background has limited appeal in Scotland, where
his Conservative party has only one of Scotland's 59 seats in the
London parliament.
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But with nationalists starting to gain some ground in polls before
the Sept. 18 referendum, Cameron will make a rare foray north of the
border to argue Scotland is better off as part of a large domestic
market with a shared currency, taxes, and rules.
"This is one of the oldest and most successful single markets in the
world," Cameron will tell business leaders at a dinner in Glasgow.
"Scotland does twice as much trade with the rest of the UK than with
the rest of the world put together...trade that helps to support one
million Scottish jobs."
The major British parties and businesses opposed to independence
argue Scotland is better off in the United Kingdom and could instead
be given further powers to its devolved parliament to ease fears
that policies made in London will continue to dominate Scotland.
Scotland has had its own devolved parliament since 1999 and can
legislate on issues such as education, health, the environment,
housing, and justice.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing
by Angus MacSwan)
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