Scottish independence: No camp launches women book

THE campaign to keep Scotland in the UK hopes to win over women voters with the launch of a book making the case for the Union.

Johann Lamont is to help launch the book. Picture: TSPL

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont will be in Glasgow to mark the publication of Women Saying No with the book’s editor, Maria Fyfe.

It features a collection of essays by Scottish women making the case for a No vote in next month’s referendum.

The Better Together campaign has been criticised after a promotional video aimed at women voters was branded “insulting” and “patronising” by social media users.

Speaking before the event held by the pro-Union group Women Together, Ms Lamont argued that it was First Minister Alex Salmond who had “a problem with women”.

She said: “Postal votes are arriving in households across Scotland today and families are making up their minds. It is essential that women’s voices are heard when Scotland makes this huge decision.

“Unfortunately for the First Minister we won’t be won over by whoever shouts the loudest. We need clear answers to the most basic question: What would the currency of a separate Scotland be?

“This impacts everything. It impacts our wages and our bills, our savings and our pensions. It impacts how we protect the funding for our public services like schools and hospitals.

“We are being asked to take a huge risk on the basis of crossed fingers and guess work from a man with a history of getting his sums wrong. It is a risk we simply do not need to take.”

Jeane Freeman, a founding member of the Women for Independence group, said: “I find it extraordinary that a senior Labour woman can only talk about independence with reference to a man.

“As we all know, this is neither about Alistair Darling or Alex Salmond. We have had the deeply patronising Better Together advert which has spurred many women to contact us today - angry, insulted and now voting Yes. And now this - and from a woman

“Women the length and breadth of the country are researching the issues, talking to each other, asking questions and making their decision. To suggest otherwise - that they can’t be bothered or that it is all too difficult - or worse, that women can be scared into voting No, is deeply insulting.”

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