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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: The Scottish Secretary has asked for talks with Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, as the independence row continues. Michael Moore says the government wants to solve the legal problems to allow a referendum to take place and the Scottish Secretary joins me now from Galashiels. A very good morning to you Mr Moore, first of all any indication that Mr Salmond is going to meet you and if and when he does, what do you want to say to him?

MICHAEL MOORE: I think it’s important that we should get together because we need to ensure that we get a referendum that is legal, that the parliament can bring forward, that it is fair and that it is decisive and from the start of this process I’ve been saying to everybody we need to ensure that this is made in Scotland and that involves both governments talking together and making sure we put things in place, get on with it and then decide this hugely important decision for all of us living here in Scotland.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay, a big part of the argument against seems to be much around today’s economic factors. Will you warn him of some of the potential economic consequences as you see it?

MICHAEL MOORE: Well for several months now I have, along with others, been asking pretty straightforward questions of the Scottish government. What currency are we going to have? We see the problems with the euro at the present time, we have had Scottish Ministers, senior ones, being asked how we would do this in Scotland independently, they’ve said we’d keep the pound but they can’t answer some pretty basic questions about how we might influence our interest rates so let’s get on to that kind of question. What would be carrying around in our wallets here in Scotland, how would we be defending ourselves? We don’t yet know the answers the nationalists propose. How would we regulate our banks? We have two huge banks here in Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland itself, who collapsed a few years ago costing the British tax payer a huge amount of money, how would we cope with that, how would we regulate it? Or our pensions, who would be paying them and at what level might they be paid at? So there are some huge decisions here which go hand in hand with the fact that for all of us here in Scotland this will be the biggest decision in 300 years, so it is important we get on with that, have a legal referendum and we do that as quickly as possible.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: But so many of those issues you’ve mentioned, Mr Moore, illustrate the fact that the union is not a one way street, it affects all parts of the United Kingdom and there are those who argue – you’ll have been reading about them and hearing from them very powerfully – therefore a referendum has to include more than the people of Scotland.

MICHAEL MOORE: Well I think the critical thing here is that over the last year we’ve had a party, the SNP, who won a majority in the Scottish parliament to put forward the idea of becoming independent here in Scotland. They have got to, it seems to me, to get on with that referendum, we need to work with them to ensure they can have a legal and fair referendum and we get a clear cut outcome. I don’t believe that’s the case elsewhere in the UK, nobody has been seriously putting forward that they want to get rid of Scotland so it is important that here in Scotland we develop that, the ability to have the referendum and that we get on and resolve those issues.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well you say that but the latest polling in the papers today suggests there are more people in England in favour of full Scottish independence than there are in Scotland.

MICHAEL MOORE: Actually in fairness one poll gives that indication and historically they took a very different view of that. Another poll in another paper today gives quite the reverse as far as its outcomes are concerned, more people in England wanting Scotland to continue to be part of the UK and I think across the whole country people see that Scotland is better and stronger as part of the UK and that the UK is stronger when Scotland is part of it but the truth is that here in Scotland there has been a consistent support for continuing within the United Kingdom over many, many years and the problem has also been that there has been a consistency of the SNPs failure to answer some of the basic questions about our currency, about our pensions, that everybody who has to go about their everyday lives here in Scotland care about.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Okay Mr Moore, thank you very much indeed. The Scottish Secretary there in Galashiels, chilly Galashiels.

MICHAEL MOORE: Thank you.