ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS 

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, has been listening there in Aberdeenshire so let’s deal with those charges from Mr Murphy first of all Mr Salmond, a very good morning to you.  At a local level and you heard it there from Jim Murphy saying this is being organised by the Yes Campaign, could you tell them to stop. 

ALEX SALMOND:  Right, I’ll come to that Dermot but all your viewers should go on to a blog that I looked at this morning called ‘Still Raining, Still Dreaming’.  I’ve never read it before but it gives a minute by minute account of one of Mr Murphy’s recent street meetings in the town of Stonehaven just a few days ago in Aberdeenshire.  Go on to that blog and exactly see what Mr Murphy has been up to, it’s absolutely and utterly ridiculous.  Now let me say absolutely clearly, I condemn any egg throwing, any intimidation from any side.  Somebody was convicted this week of course of online threats against me, we have got somebody who thought his car should be a political weapon, there was a woman a Yes Campaigner assaulted on the streets of Glasgow but I don’t hold press conferences accusing Mr Murphy or the No Campaign of orchestrating these events because I know that would be ridiculous to do so.  So let me absolutely clear for people watching – if Mr Murphy comes bawling and shouting at a street corner near you any time soon, keep doing your shopping, go on with what you are doing.  It’s just like a guy with ‘The End is Nigh’ round his neck, he’ll go away soon.  If Mr Farage comes in a blaze of publicity in the next few days as he says he’s going to be, ignore him, he’ll go back to Clacton very soon.  If the Orange Order campaign for the No Campaign the weekend before poll, let the police deal with it and let the rest of us get on with the real story and that is hundreds of thousands of people, never interested in politics in their lives before, are now engaged in the most engaging, participative and empowering debate in political history.  That’s the real story, not the byways that Mr Murphy would try to take us down.

DM: Just on that, Mr Salmond, I mean you do seem to be in that answer suggesting that these are idiots that are disrupting the proper debate that both of you agree needs to take place but this charge is very specific from Mr Murphy, that there are hundreds of people involved, it is sinister and it is being organised and while you are reading those blogs why don’t you read those Facebook pages that are saying get out and disrupt Mr Murphy’s meetings?

ALEX SALMOND: What I’m suggesting is that people go on to that blog and look at the account of his recent meeting in Stonehaven.  Look, I condemn any behaviour but that is not the story of that campaign.  He says organised meetings, hundreds of thousands of people have attended Yes meetings across the country, 180,000 people who have never voted before are registering to vote in this referendum and incidentally they are not registering to vote No, they are registering for the first time ever a political campaign is touching people.  This is the most empowering story in history, certainly in Scottish history and I suspect in European history and if Mr Murphy can’t see that because of the activities and wind ups he is doing around Scotland then that’s a matter for him so let’s condemn the odd idiot because there are idiots on all sides but let’s remember that 99.9% of people are …

DM: But he says it’s not the odd idiot, he says it is hundreds of organised people. 

ALEX SALMOND: Yes and that’s why I am suggesting that people look at the account of his meeting in Stonehaven and draw their own conclusions as opposed to taking Mr Murphy’s word at it.  I’m not going to hold a press conference accusing the No campaign of being behind the intimidation against me because I know that is not the case, I know it is just the odd idiot so my advice to people is that if Mr Murphy comes bawling at a street corner near you any time soon, ignore him, get on with the messages and the same for other people who conduct that sort of campaign because the rest of us are going to community meetings, packed halls around the country, engaging in a wonderful democratic process about this nation’s future.  That is the real story and I do hope that Sky television might turn up at one of his meetings, they are happening every night, and see what people are actually doing, the 99.9% engaging in democratic politics in the most wonderful way as opposed to the nonsense that Mr Murphy would like to divert us into and listen, if he thinks he could do better in a debate than Alistair Darling, perhaps the No campaign should make him the leader and see how he gets on in a debate.  I suspect in an actual debate, as opposed to bawling and shouting, Mr Murphy would be no better than Alistair Darling was this week.

DM: Okay, well Sky Television as you know is going to be there in force over the next few weeks as we get very, very close to the …

ALEX SALMOND: And isn’t it significant of course that Alistair Darling refused to do a debate on Sky Television?  You had to cover the BBC debate because he is not having any more debates, he has withdrawn from the campaign.  Maybe he is about to be replaced by Mr Murphy.  I’d like him to be replaced by the real leader of the No campaign, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, why won’t he do an open debate on Sky Television with me as First Minister? 

DM: Okay, well we’d like to see it too.   I want to ask you about David Cameron, he said yesterday he was all emotional and nervous about this on the other side of it, are you emotional and nervous as you get into the last 18 days?

ALEX SALMOND: I’ll tell you what, he’s right to be nervous because on the official polls the Yes vote is 48% and rising, a huge number.  Hundreds of thousands of Labour supporters are now supporting Yes in this campaign.  The Yes support is rising, we’re still behind, we’re still the underdogs, we’ve still got a distance to travel but if we’re making the Prime Minister nervous then I suspect we’re doing something right.   

DM: Okay, I talked to you if you remember, we were in Gleneagles, at the beginning of the year and you said you’d unleash a range of amazements as things closed down.  It’s been more like trench warfare hasn’t it, where’s your amazements?  Is there still something up your sleeve?

ALEX SALMOND: Well what is amazing is that 180,000 people who have never been on the electoral register have now registered to vote.  There are hundreds of thousands of people who have never voted before who are going to vote in three weeks’ time.  This is the greatest democratic engagement that Scotland has ever seen and if you had the journalists and the camera crews available you’d be able to catch it because this debate is wonderful in Scotland at the present moment, it is the most amazing community debate we’ve ever had.  So get involved, get in with the positivity in the campaign and leave Mr Murphy to, well, whatever else he’s doing. 

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