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Hague Hits The Campaign Trail
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Wiliam Hague in Scotland
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Conservative leader William Hague and ex-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher are in Scotland today to add weight to the campaign against devolution. Although former Conservative MP Phil Gallie has conceded, as many No campaigners have in private, that Scots are likely to vote Yes to the first question, Mr Hague joins a campaign still hopeful of inflicting a defeat on the tax question.
Visiting Edinburgh this morning he focused on the issue of taxation and the break-up of the union, saying that if they voted for a parliament the Scottish public, "would be leaping towards higher taxation in Scotland than the rest of the United Kingdom and, quite possibly, in the long term to the break-up of the United Kingdom."
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Lady Thatcher in Glasgow
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Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher is also in Scotland today to make a speech at a tourism conference in Glasgow. In an interview in the Scotsman newspaper today, she accused the Government of acting in a "shallow and cynical manner". Mr Hague welcomed Lady Thatcher's comments, telling BBC Radio Scotland that it was time for everyone to speak out against devolution.
However the Yes campaign sees the ex-Prime Minister's visit as an own goal by their opponents. The Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, Menzies Campbell, seemed to welcome Lady Thatcher's visit: "Mrs. Thatcher has been the best recruiting sergeant that the home rule movement ever had. A large part of people's understanding of the inadequacies of the present constitutional arrangements for Scotland and the United Kingdom is down to the way in which Mrs Thatcher abused power."
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