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Bailout's Toll Is Higher in Scotland
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"It is very unfortunate that the prime minister, who has had a lot of cross-party support over the past couple of weeks for his stabilization plan, in the national interest, should resort at the first opportunity to an attack on Scottish independence," he told the BBC.
Salmond did not mention Iceland, but he noted that Ireland was entering its recession "40 percent more prosperous than the U.K." and that Norway is a "sea of stability" compared to Britain in the current crisis.
"Which is presumably why Gordon Brown did not want to mention Norway in his thesis that only small countries get into trouble," Salmond said. "The country where this started is the United States of America -- the largest economy in the world."
Once a fringe party, the SNP has been in control of the Scottish government since last year, when it defeated Brown's Labor Party in local elections.
Paul Cairney, who teaches politics at the University of Aberdeen, said the SNP was propelled into power not by a clamor for independence as much as a protest against Labor, which supports the highly unpopular Iraq war. Now, he said, the tables are turned, because Brown's handling of the financial crisis is winning praise. "When Labor in the U.K. has a boost, it has the opposite effect on the SNP," Cairney said.
With Salmond as first minister, the Scottish government's top job, the SNP has pressed the case for independence, with the support of a passionate minority of Scots, including actor Sean Connery.
The SNP has argued that Scotland's economy, led by a robust financial sector and revenue from oil rigs in the North Sea, would make it a vigorous small nation should it leave England, Wales and Northern Ireland behind in the United Kingdom. An independent Scotland would become part of the European Union and could turn to Brussels rather than London for help in tough times, the party contends.
British newspaper editorials on Wednesday tore into the idea of Scottish independence. "One lesson of the financial crisis is already starkly clear: A Scotland independent of the Union would today be an economic basket case," the Daily Mail said.
The Times argued: "The case for independence was never strong. Its flaws have been cruelly exposed by the financial crisis."
