Scottish independence: Tragic to leave UK - Callow

Actor Simon Callow has said it would be “tragic” if Scotland leaves the UK. The actor, 64, described Edinburgh as the “capital of the kingdom in the north” and said he would feel “diminished” in the event of a Yes vote.

Simon Callow, famed for his role in Four Weddings and a Funeral, worked in Scotland in his youth. Picture: Jim Cooper/AP

His intervention came as novelist Irvine Welsh said he believes that Scottish independence is inevitable.

Callow, whose film credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral, is the latest English celebrity to appeal for Scotland to stay part of the UK after David Bowie, right, and comic Eddie Izzard.

“It would be a tragic diminution of our lives for Scotland to sever the connection,” Callow said.

“I would feel myself diminished, a lesser person, and I know that my many, many Scottish friends will feel the same, whatever the temporary adrenaline rush of independence.”

The actor spent the early years of his career in Scotland and said that the nation has been “so profoundly central to British history”.

He returns to Edinburgh in July with a production based on the work of Roman poet Juvenal. He described his time working in Scotland, with the Young Lyceum and Traverse theatres, as a “golden time”. He said: “It was the beginning of my love affair with Scotland.”

Welsh, left, author of Trainspotting and Filth, is a long-standing supporter of independence.

He said in an interview he had reached this conclusion because the “glue that keeps the country together is founded on industry and empire that no longer exist”.

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