“It means he is going back on his word. He is splitting hairs when he says ‘in my opinion’ – it came across as quite categorical (during the referendum campaign),” he said.
Mr Dale was similarly bemused at Mr Salmond’s refusal to say whether a second referendum pledge should be included in the SNP manifesto for this year’s Holyrood election, noting: “In all the trailers for this programme, you said ‘I’m going to shoot from the hip, I’m going to give honest answers. I’m just asking you to give me an honest answer.”
The former SNP leader said his answer was that he would support Ms Sturgeon’s decision, prompting Mr Dale to respond: “That’s the best we’re going to get?”
Mr Salmond later predicted the pressure to have an “early” independence referendum if the UK leaves the EU would be “irresistible” but would not give a timescale, prompting Mr Dale to say: “You must have a view…Straight-talking – come on!”
His first two calls addressed the collapse in the oil price from the $110 per barrel predicted by Mr Salmond before the referendum to less than $31 per barrel. He argued that “prices get high, prices get low” and Norway has an oil fund of £600 billion.
Paul, the first caller, from St Albans, said: “That sounds like a politician talking to me. You wanted to run the country and be financially secure and you can’t talk about Scotland – you can talk about Norway or America or Saudi Arabia.”
The pair then got into a heated row over how many people pay tax in Scotland and would have had to fund independence.
After Mr Dale pointed out that economists have calculated a separate Scotland would have an additional annual deficit of up to £10 billion compared to being part of the UK, Mr Salmond said all countries borrow “when times are tough”.
Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/579309/s/4cd70b56/sc/13/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cpolitics0CSNP0C120A983920CAlex0ESalmond0Edodges0Eindependence0Equestions0Eon0ELBC0Edebut0Bhtml/story01.htm