A BULLISH Alex Salmond opened his party conference in Perth yesterday still predicting that the Scottish National Party will win the looming Glenrothes byelection, despite suggestions that the global financial crisis has effectively buried his "independence" agenda, writes Frank MillarLondon Editor
Scotland's first minister has also challenged British prime minister Gordon Brown to a debate in the constituency where Labour is defending a 10,664 majority next month. Buoyed by some recovery in his and his party's poll ratings and by the international response to his rescue package for the British banking system, Mr Brown carried the battle to Mr Salmond earlier this week - citing the £37 billion bailout of Scotland's leading banks, RBS and HBOS, as testament to the strength of the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Mr Brown also joined those mocking Mr Salmond's previous suggestion that an independent Scotland could emulate the economic success of Ireland, Norway and Iceland, the so-called "Arc of Prosperity".
"We've seen the problems in Iceland, we've seen the problems in Ireland. We were able to put the whole strength of the United Kingdom's resources behind these two banks, and I think that's important because I value the Scottish banking tradition," Mr Brown told BBC Scotland.
While maintaining that the global crisis was not an occasion for party politics, the prime minister also asserted: "We were able to act decisively with £37 billion. That would not have been possible for a Scottish administration."
Mr Salmond hit back, noting that Mr Brown had "ignored" Norway when suggesting the case for independence had been undermined: "Norway looks frankly like a sea of stability in a world of trouble at the moment."
Mr Salmond also observed that Ireland had taken substantial, early action to stabilise its financial sector.
"It is moving into recession certainly, but it is moving in 40 per cent per head more prosperous than the United Kingdom, and I suspect it will emerge from recession 40 per cent per head more prosperous than the UK," he said.
Insisting that the financial crisis had nothing to do with the argument for Scottish independence, Mr Salmond also noted that "the country where this started, the country where 17 banks have failed, is the United States of America - the largest economy in the world."
While robustly defending his timetable for a 2010 referendum on independence, Mr Salmond's byelection focus will be on the "real economy" issues as Scotland braces itself for an imminent recession. A chambers of commerce survey yesterday recorded business confidence in the country as being at a record low.