Farage urges Yes supporters to back independence from Brussels too

David Cameron has promised an in-out referendum on UK membership of Europe by the end of 2017.

However speaking to the Sunday Herald in Brussels, Farage said he expected it as soon as March, when the PM could claim credit for securing modest EU reforms, and before Europe’s problems turned off more voters.

“If I was a Scottish Nationalist I would vote to leave,” he said. “[Staying] means joining the Euro and being part of the Brussels club. There is a strand of Scottish Nationalism that can be reached with the logic of this argument. It has not been fully tapped, but it is interesting.”

A recent poll found a third of Scots want ‘Brexit', compared to half of English voters.

Farage, who plans at least two Scottish stops on a UK-wide referendum tour next year, said there was a clear difference in attitudes either side of the border, but “not a gulf”.

He said: “Towns in Scotland have not suffered like the places in Eastern England which have been fundamentally changed [by EU migration] since 2004. Yet despite that, Scottish people polled about open borders and immigration are not very far behind England in saying there's an issue that needs to be controlled and they’re concerned about it.”

However he admitted the Out campaign lacked a senior SNP figure who could sway opinion.

As recently as Friday, Nicola Sturgeon, a former shadow Europe minister, restated her party’s absolute commitment to the EU and its “social and economic benefits”.

Farage revealed a personal dislike of Sturgeon, who he blamed for costing Ukip votes in the general election by driving people afraid of a Labour-SNP pact towards the Tories.

“A lot of middle England voters looked at that and reacted in a way that nobody would have predicted. I look back on it and think, What could I have done to persuade a lot of voters that the SNP wagging the tail of Ed Miliband wasn’t a threat to this country? Nothing.”

He said of their frosty meeting at a TV debate: “She is not my cup of tea. I did not naturally warm to her – perhaps that’s my fault. There was not a huge outpouring of bonhomie.”

Asked he’d be happy with an Out vote even if it triggered a second independence referendum, Farage said: “Oh God yes. We agree with independence. The SNP don't believe in it for the UK or Scotland. Maybe the [EU] referendum is the moment when Scottish Nationalism actually gets put on the rack and examined in terms of what they're trying to sell people.”

He said if there was an Out vote and the SNP held 'Indyref2' in response, they would struggle to get people to rejoin Europe, as it would mean ceding newfound powers.

“Once there is an independent United Kingdom, if the SNP don't like it they can have a referendum to vote against independence. Think about it in those terms.”

Farage said Ukip’s key pitch for leaving Europe would be control over migration, plus a warning that voting to stay would be taken as backing for greater EU integration.

Farage also predicted Ukip would win its first seats in Holyrood next May via the regional list system, which sees MSPs elected with around 7 per cent of the vote.

He said: “I think we will win seats. Just how many and how well we can do I don’t know. But a recent Survation poll in Scotland on voting intentions had Ukip on five points. To start from a base like that as we launch a campaign is probably not a bad place to be.”

Scottish Ukip MEP David Coburn, who will be a Holyrood candidate, added: “Ten per cent [on the list] gets you five seats. We can do a lot of damage with five seats. A lot of people will leave Labour. They are not going to vote for the Tories. They will, however, vote for us.”

An SNP spokesman said Ukip were an electoral “irrelevance” in Scotland: “As Nigel Farage knows well, the only way for his party to get attention is to trade in intolerance and insults."