ONE of the world’s top financial brains has called on the Scottish Government to do more to “prepare the ground” for independence.

Michael O’Sullivan, a former chief investment officer of Credit Suisse and Princeton University academic, said he believed Scots would vote to leave the UK within “five to 10 years”.

Speaking on RT’s Alex Salmond Show, O’Sullivan said: “As soon as Brexit happened , in my mind, history was detonated and I think we will see Scottish independence coming in the next five, 10 years, whenever it needs to come.”

O’Sullivan, who is the author of The Levelling – What’s Next After Globalisation, added: “I think the government in Scotland currently needs to begin to prepare the ground for that, institutionally in terms of expertise, and to give the sense that this is a country which can be independently governed in a very capable way”

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The comments follow on from remarks made in a blog posted earlier this month in which O’Sullivan predicted “that the Tory party will soon formally split and that the nucleus of a new centrist party in British politics will be formed around the 21 MP’s who were expelled from the Conservatives.”

He said the result of this could be a surge towards independence for Scotland.

“Most of the arguments deployed by Brexiteers for ‘taking back control’ appear logical in the case of Scottish independence,” he said.

“Everything the Johnson government does shears away at the moral and emotional ties between London and Scotland. Moreover, the departure of Ruth Davidson as head of the Scottish Tory party will hand back a number of seats to the SNP.

He continued: “The challenge for Nicola Sturgeon now is to convince Scots that the SNP can execute new

policy ideas that will make Scotland more stable economically, and richer in terms of human development.

“Then, both the Irish government and the EC will feel that their opposite numbers in London have no credibility and no sincerity. Whereas they were often puzzled by Theresa May, Boris Johnson has done

nothing to encourage Brussels to trust him.

“That is a pity because once Britain leaves the EU, the truly complex business of negotiating its future relationship with the EU will only begin.

“This is apparently lost on the Johnson government.”

O’Sullivan added: “I did not think Boris Johnson would become Prime Minister, though there was a good chance that this might happen.

“Further, given everything that has happened with Brexit so far, it was still hard to imagine that in a few weeks his government has managed to effectively destroy the Tory party, the Union and the very large stock of goodwill that Britain has built up with neighbouring countries.”

The Alex Salmond Show featuring Michael O’Sullivan airs today on RT