Debatable right

Douglas Turner (Letters, 10 January) writes that a recent poll suggests that a majority of voters favour a televised debate on independence between Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond. He may be referring to the SNP-commissioned poll showing that 67 per cent of voters favoured such a debate. Fair point. But, of course, there are polls and there are polls. A poll commissioned at the same time by the Better Together campaign found that 71 per cent of voters would favour a televised debate between Mr Salmond and Alistair Darling. Where does that leave us?

Mr Salmond refuses to debate with Mr Darling on the grounds that he should debate with the leader of the independence campaign, Blair Jenkins. I agree with Mr Salmond. However, the question is not only whether Mr Cameron is the right person but also whether Mr Salmond is. The role of an SNP leader and of a First Minister have to be regarded as discrete in this context. Allowing Mr Salmond to debate as First Minister would lend credence to the impression he is trying to project – that he is talking for the whole of Scotland in a choice between Scotland and Tory England.

A glance at the 2011 election results shows that the SNP polled 45 per cent of the vote and the turnout was 50 per cent. Simple arithmetic shows that Mr Salmond’s party represents less than a quarter of the electorate and that he does not speak for the whole of Scotland on the issue of independence any more than Mr Cameron does for the people of Scotland or of the UK on the Union.

Colin Hamilton

Braid Hills Avenue

Edinburgh