Outlander star Sam Heughan has thrown his weight behind indyref2.
The Balmacellan born thesp declared his support for the vote in a scathing tweet about an article in this week’s Economist.
Writing about Scottish independence, the magazine says “going it alone would be a serious gamble”, and illustrates this using a picture of a Scot, with blue face paint wearing a “see you Jimmy” hat.
Heughan responded: “Maybe a gamble is needed to move forward for the country? Finally, escape age-old stereotyping and cliche, as portrayed in similar photos?”
The actor, who plays the character of Jacobite Jamie Fraser in the hit American show about a time-travelling nurse, was a keen Yes campaigner in 2014, and regularly posted support for independence.
In the article, the magazine says Britain is heading towards “Scoxit.”.
“For a country of 5m people that depends on two sputtering industries, to go it alone would be a gamble. Yet Scots may conclude that remaining in the Brexit-bound union would be riskier still. They would be wrong. For although Mrs May’s willingness to leave the single market and customs union is likely to be bad for Britain, it also makes independence more complicated. If the EU were prepared to readmit it, Scotland would face a harder border with England. Nationalists say they could import whatever arrangement is made in Ireland, where a similar problem exists. But there may be no such neat solution. And rejoining the EU’s single market at the cost of leaving Britain’s would make no sense: Scotland exports four times as much to the rest of Britain as it does to the EU.”
Responding to the article, Mark Littlewood, the Director General of the IEA tweeted: “Give anyone freedom & independence & they MIGHT mess up. But usually they use it wisely. Why wldnt Scotland?!”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel