Alex Salmond: “No” voters in independence referendum have been misled by devolution promises
Alex Salmond believes "No" voters in the Scottish independence referendum have been misled by false promises of more devolutionary powers.
Speaking to the BBC's Sunday Politics programme, Salmond claimed the three main UK party leaders' devolution vows were "cooked up in desperation for the last few days of the campaign."
Scotland voted against independence on Thursday, with the "No" campaign beating the "Yes" campaign by 2,001,926 votes to 1,617,989.
Salmond, who has announced his decision to stand down as Scotland's first minister and leader of the Scottish National party in November, said those persuaded to vote "No" were "misled, gulled, tricked".
Salmond said:
I am actually not surprised they are cavilling and reneging on commitments, I am only surprised by the speed at which they are doing it. They seem to be totally shameless in these matters.
The Prime Minister wants to link change in Scotland to change in England. He wants to do that because he has difficulty in carrying his backbenchers on this and they are under pressure from UKIP.
I think the vow was something cooked up in desperation for the last few days of the campaign and I think everyone Scotland now realises that.
Downing Street has responded with the insistence that "this government has delivered on devolution and we will do so again".
Yesterday Gordon Brown told an audience in Fife that the promises made by the leaders of the three main UK parties prior to the referendum would be "locked in".
A parliamentary notion by the three parties lays out strict steps and a timetable for further devolution. A "command paper" detailing new powers for Scotland is due to be published next month, with a new Scotland Bill to be published in January 2015.
However, already there have been disagreements between the three parties about the devolutionary process. David Cameron indicated his support for English votes for English MPs, however Labour are more cautious. Party leader Ed Miliband said "this isn't a simple issue" when questioned on the Andrew Marr show this morning.