UKIP: Alex Salmond is 'Playing a Blinder' over Scottish Referendum

The UKIP party has said the SNP leader, Alex Salmond, is "playing a blinder" over the Scottish independence referendum dispute which has cooked up a political storm on both sides of the border.

The party said however they would "not support an independent Scotland" but "respected the right of a referendum".

Press spokesman, Gawain Towler, told the International Business Times UK, "There is a constitutional situation that has been caused by the devolution of powers in 1999.

"We find it astonishing that the Scots can have a vote on independence whereas the English cannot have a vote on whether or not they want to be a part of the European Union."

UKIP, however, are keen to see a united Britain and have asked to the two local councillors they control in Fife, Scotland to campaign for the no vote.

The question of Scottish independence, has also brought into question the notion of an sovereign English parliament which the UKIP has long campaigned for.

"We feel the English are completely under-represented in the UK," said Towler. "How can Wales and Scottish MPs vote on English laws that do not effect legislation within their countries?"

UKIP has also warned Labour supporters that an independent Scotland would be "colossal" for the party with Labour receiving such a large proportion of its votes north of the border. The party has also enjoyed a rich backbone of Scottish front benchers over the years, with Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling being the prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer respectively.

Towler added: "Labour's leader Ed Miliand yesterday admitted that an independent Scotland would 'finish the party', which no one seems to have picked up on."

Legal Challenge

The Scottish Secretary refused to say today if the UK Government would mount a legal challenge to any referendum staged by the SNP administration, but he said that the Nationalists' plans "run the risk somewhere along the line of legal challenges".

Alex Salmond hit out at UK ministers and said: "The Prime Minister came in with his size 10 boots and started to put all sorts of strings and conditions, and basically wanted to pull the strings of Scotland's referendum."

He said there had been a "huge adverse reaction" north of the border to "the Thatcheresque idea that Downing Street knows best".