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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, told his party yesterday that it was game on in his fight for Scottish independence but questions remain about how an independent Scotland would function. I will be joined very shortly from the SNP Conference in Perth by the First Minister himself. Let’s say a very good morning then to the First Minister in Perth and Mr Salmond, listening to your speech to conference I was very struck to the amount of times you referred to, as you termed them, the Lord Snooty’s in charge in Westminster. Do you regard them, this Conservative led coalition, as something of a trump card in your fight for independence?

ALEX SALMOND: Well it’s interesting, Dermot, there is a poll today in the Sunday Times which shows that the gap between the two sides narrowing from 25% a couple of weeks ago to 8% but says it would only be 4% if people thought there was Labour government to come and that there would be an 11% lead for the Yes Campaign if people anticipated another Tory government. I think what that means is a bit of momentum with the Yes side I think. It doesn’t mean we are necessarily going to win the referendum but it just means it is certainly game on for the referendum. The nature of government in London of course is a factor that Scots take into account and the Tory poll ratings in Scotland are in single figures. In fact, as I was saying yesterday, I think they are lucky to be in single figures.

DM: So your dream ticket of a No platform would be what, Boris Johnson, George Osborne and David Cameron?

AS: They are on the No platform already although some of them …

DM: I mean them appearing up in Scotland.

AS: Well probably as often as possible but the No campaign is led by Alistair Darling who is the Chancellor who presided over the greatest financial collapse in recent history so I think the No campaign has many liabilities among a number. We look forward to the contest but basically we’re going to win this referendum not because of who is in the No campaign, we’re going to win it on the quality of the arguments and positive case for an independent Scotland.

DM: Okay and let’s look at the policy case, the policy mix and we were all interested of course in that debate, that quite heated debate you must admit at times, over NATO membership at the SNP Conference. Now this was a decade’s held principle within the SNP of course of which you’ve been a leading member for so long, do you still believe that membership of NATO is something that Scotland could ultimately do without but are you just changing it because you think it could help you win the independence vote?

AS: Well Dermot, I haven’t been in the SNP that long but it certainly has been a fair amount of time. Incidentally, I have been in the SNP when it was pro-NATO, I have been in the SNP previously when we adopted the Partnership for Peace policy about ten years ago which is a NATO affiliate so I supported the view of conference which carried conference that we should say we are willing to be members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, co-operate with our friends and neighbours. What is unconditional is that Scotland doesn’t want to be a nuclear country and given that 25 out of the 28 member countries are non-nuclear members of NATO, it doesn’t seem unreasonable for Scotland to have that status.

DM: But there is a big difference, they don’t have nuclear weaponry on their territory that they are trying to get rid of, Scotland does.

AS: But nobody seriously believes that an independent Scotland as a country of five and a quarter million people should be in possession of nuclear weapons. That would be bad for Scotland, bad for the world. Of course then there would be a choice to be made by the government of the rest of the UK, they could either find another facility to house the Trident system in, perhaps the east coast of America given that it is an American based weapon anyway, or perhaps the French facilities or they could build their own. Alternatively they could adopt what would be a much more sensible policy which would be to decommission the weapon system.

DM: But this is like being a member of a drinking club, a teetotal member of a drinking club.

AS: Yes, but 25 out of the 28 members of NATO are in that position at the present moment. I don't know if you are saying that Norway and Denmark and Canada are teetotal members of drinking clubs. If it’s entirely reasonable for Norway and Denmark and Canada to have a non-nuclear but pro-NATO position, I don't think it’s unreasonable for Scotland. What we recognise is because of Scotland’s geographical position, there are profound interests of our friends and colleagues in terms of collective defence and security but none of our friends and colleagues with perhaps the exception of the pro-nuclear people in the UK government, would expect Scotland to be in possession of nuclear weapons. In fact I think most of our friends and colleagues think it is a very bad idea to have nuclear proliferation at all and therefore it is an entirely reasonable position for the SNP in Scotland to aspire to co-operate through NATO but on a non-nuclear basis.

DM: No, but it’s why you want to be a member of it because we heard from NATO it is very pro-nuclear weapons. At the Chicago Summit back in May, they reiterated, reconfirmed their commitment to being a nuclear alliance.

AS: Yes, but also of course as you know that NATO’s strategic statement is they want to have a world without nuclear weapons, that’s also in NATO’s statement and that is certainly an aspiration I would aspire to but I can’t wish away American nuclear weapons but I can do something, if the people of Scotland so choose to become independent, about the weapons of mass destruction that are in Scotland and that would be to remove them, on a timetable of course that takes account of safety, we don’t want to jeopardise any safety but nonetheless, these weapons will have to go in an independent Scotland, if that is the choice of the Scottish people. Theoretically of course people in Scotland could vote for a government which wanted to keep these nuclear weapons in Scotland, I think that prospect is quite unlikely though.

DM: Okay, Mr Salmond, thank you very much indeed, the First Minister there Alex Salmond.

AS: It’s a great pleasure, thank you Dermot.