Scottish independence: Archie MacPherson backs UK

MacPherson took pot shot at Yes camp. Picture: Ian Rutherford

He said anger over the Yes side’s claims had driven him to speak out.

“Sitting watching the obfuscation and evasion streaming out of the independence campaign – I couldn’t stand it any longer,” he said.

The sports broadcasting veteran and author looked back to the end of the Second World War in 1945, a time he said in which victory had transformed British society into “something we must never forget.

“Our forebears created the welfare state, the education system from which myself and others have hugely benefited.

“I intend to stick on that particular road, difficult though it may be.

“Within the UK is the right and moral road, because I am as concerned about food banks in Liverpool as I am in Glasgow or Dundee.”

Also under fire were Yes voters claiming not to be Nationalists.

MacPherson said: “They say they are not becoming Nationalists – worse, they are becoming parochialists and turning their heads away from the system and tradition that brought us together and created our society.

“I am voting for my kids and their kids.

“It is your job to go out and question these people who are thinking about voting Yes.

“It is a huge gamble and I am not prepared to take it.

“I value the things we have at the moment because we were together, and we should stay together.

“The wrong road is the yellow brick road which they [Yes supporters] are riding, which ends in deception, deceit and fantasy.”