Independence: Freedom Come All Ye ‘a good anthem’

ALEX Salmond has suggested that the Scots language song Freedom Come All Ye that was performed by South African opera singer Pumeza Matshikiza at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony would be a good national anthem for an independent Scotland.

Pumeza Matshikiza sang 'Freedom Come All Ye' at the Glasgow 2014 opening ceremony. Picture: Contributed

Mr Salmond, speaking at Edinburgh International Book Festival today, said that “we could do a lot worse” as he suggested there was public support for having the song, which was written by written by the late songwriter, Hamish Henderson, as a national anthem.

The First Minister also suggested that key decisions about the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008 had been taken in London as he stated that to “see the RBS failure as a particularly Scottish matter is wrong”.

He went onto dismiss plans set out by the main Unionist parties to have General Elections manifesto commitments to block a formal currency Union between an independent Scotland and the remainder of the UK.

Mr Salmond said that in the event of a Yes vote the issue would be resolved by “common sense” and that “people would sit down and do what’s best” for Scotland and the UK and agree to formally share the pound.

The SNP leader compared the No campaign to a “Hammer House of Horror movie” as he said that the warnings from Unionist parties were like “Dracula” and would “disintegrate” in the sunlight.

Mr Salmond also talked about what he said was the “mumbo jumbo” of alleged online abuse during the referendum campaign as he hailed what he said was the “consented” process of people voting on independence in a “peaceful manner”.