Poll puts Darling ahead of Salmond in #indyref debate: video
After a fiery, two hour debate ahead of the Scottish independence referendum, a snap poll puts Alistair Darling slightly in the lead ahead of First Minister Alex Salmond.
Video: Pictures courtesy of STV
The first live TV debate of the campaign was held just over six weeks ahead of polling day, and it was a noisy affair which saw the two men clash over key issues facing voters.
Mr Darling, who was chancellor in Gordon Brown’s Labour government, repeatedly pressed Mr Salmond to set out what his “plan B” would be if an independent Scotland failed to secure a currency union to allow it to retain the pound in the wake of a Yes vote.
On the other hand, the SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland, challenged Mr Darling several times to say whether he agreed with comments from Prime Minister David Cameron that Scotland would be a successful independent country.
A Guardian/ICM poll conducted immediately afterwards indicated that Mr Darling, the leader of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, had won the debate by 56 per cent to 44 per cent.
It wasn’t cheers but boos that filled this new digital arena Carl Miller, Demos
But Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told broadcaster STV, which had staged the independence clash: “I definitely think my side won.” She added there was “nothing about how we make our country more prosperous or how we make it fairer” from Mr Darling in the head to head showdown.
On which politician had made the best arguments in the debate, Mr Darling was also ahead in the ICM poll, with 51 per cent of the 512 people questioned preferring the case he had made, compared to the 40 per cent who said that Mr Salmond had made the better argument.
Think tank Demos analysed the response to the debate on Twitter, which attracted some 104,000 tweets in total. Carl Miller, Demos’s social media researcher said: “It wasn’t cheers but boos that filled this new digital arena and our analysis suggests people were turned off for one of the oldest reasons of all – neither politician was keen to answer the question.”
The debate was held in front of an audience of 350 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
Video: Ciaran Jenkins reports on the battle of personalities ahead of Scottish referendum debate
