Cameron meets Salmond to discuss Scottish independence

David Cameron has met with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond to discuss Scottish independence.  The Prime Minister commented that Scotland could leave the United Kingdom but that would make him “deeply, deeply sad”.

The meeting comes ahead of a referendum, expected to be scheduled for 2014.  Cameron and Salmon met to discuss several issues surrounding the referendum, including who has the power to run it.

In an interview with BBC News, Cameron said that if there was a vote against independence, he would consider giving more power to Scotland to help the UK function more effectively.

“I believe in devolution,” said the PM, “and I don’t just mean devolution in terms of power, I mean devolution in terms of giving people greater control over their own lives.”

He went onto make the point that both Scotland and England could make it on their own, but that wasn’t necessarily the best option for either country.

“My argument is, we are better off, we are stronger together, we’re fairer together, and we’re richer together.”

Cameron also mentioned that whilst Scotland would benefit from oil revenues if they were independent, they would lose out in other ways, including the dividing up of the UK armed forces.

Although there have been some calls by British nationalists wanting independence, Cameron was adamant that he is not interested in going it alone.

Eleanor Hooper