Missed tackle

I was standing a few yards from Jim Murphy on Kirkcaldy High Street when the eggs were thrown – the first egg missed him in fact and whistled past my leg – a memory that still makes me chuckle. But far from being amused, I rue a wasted opportunity in the closing days of the campaign.

In the final phase of a marathon match in which Yes had just taken a 51-49 lead, the ball was passed to the Better Together prop forward who lumbered towards the line for what they hoped could be a match-winning try. Some commentators think that Gordon Brown saved the union. Certainly it was vital for the Yes side that he was taken down and I believe I missed a chance to tackle him at a Kirkcaldy meeting a few days before the referendum, with a great many journalists present and TV cameras filming the event.

As usual the Better Together organisers had tried to keep out Yes supporters but I managed to slip anonymously past the heavy security presence. In his speech Brown declared that “an independent Scotland can’t be a fairer Scotland – just look at the SNP’s White Paper – they propose that corporation tax be reduced”.

I was astonished – was Brown trying to deceive his faithful followers into believing that there would be a perpetual SNP dictatorship in an independent Scotland, or showing so little confidence in his own movement that he didn’t believe that a rejuvenated Scottish Labour Party could gain power post-independence? Certainly the 35 per cent or so of traditional Labour voters that voted Yes seemed to believe that a fairer Scotland was possible.

I rose to my feet in order to challenge the former PM but little time was allowed for questions and I wasn’t given the opportunity to nail his lie. I look forward to voting in an SNP successor to him as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Andrew Storey

MacDuff Crescent

Kinghorn, Fife