Brian Cox: Scottish independence now '˜less like a lost cause'

The actor Brian Cox has explained his support for a second independence referendum, saying the time is 'ripe' for Scotland to go its own way.

Brian Cox shares his thoughts on independence and the reasons to vote YES at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, in 2014.

In an interview with The Scotsman’s sister title i, Cox compared the move for a second referendum on independence to the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum.

“It’s getting less like a lost cause - given how we got devolution in the first place through trial and a lot of error - but we got it, it’s even more ripe now than at the time of the referendum.

“The only problem is it’s a bit close, I don’t think anyone wanted the referendum this early, but we’ve been driven to make this decision and it’s a decision we have to make because it’s a mess.”

Cox, who now lives in the United States, criticised the political climate in the UK, and in his adopted home.

The actor, who was talking ahead of the broadcast of his BBC documentary Brian Cox’s Russia, cited a perceived difference between attitudes in Scotland and England.

“The whole zeitgeist with Brexit in the UK, and the clown here [President Donald Trump] is just ridiculous, and it’s all part of the same disease.”

“Scotland is well clear of it, Scotland should be clear of it, it’s time that we did get our country back.

“We are truly internationalists, and England isn’t, and that’s what we have to offer. We are internationalists - that’s our strength.

“We’re not xenophobes, anything but, and I think that’s what we’ve got to go forward with.

“It’s persistence, persistence, persistence.”

In the lead-up to the 2014 referendum Cox was a vocal supporter of the Yes campaign, even calling for Americans to back Scottish independence.

Asked whether he would be publicly campaigning for Scottish independence for a second time, Cox expressed some reservations.

“Probably, except maybe I’ll have to keep my mouth shut because people will be saying ‘what is he daein’, he lives in America’.

“It’s all bollocks, they talk such shite some of these people.

“I grew up in Scotland, I think my track record from my relationship to Scotland speaks for itself.

“I was the rector of Dundee University for six years, I think I’ve done my time as being a full Scot.”

Read the full interview with Brian CoxWatch episode one of Brian Cox’s Russia on BBC Two Scotland at 9pm