SCOTTISH actor Alan Cumming has long been a keen supporter and campaigner of independence, regularly using his platform to promote his views on his home country.
The actor, singer and writer, who has appeared in the likes of X-Men, Goldeneye, hit show The Good Wife and the US edition of The Traitors, has regularly spoken about why he believes Scotland would be better outside of the UK and back in the EU.
He recently handed back his OBE due to his “misgivings” with being associated with the “toxicity” of the British Empire.
We’ve rounded up some of his views on independence.
What has he previously said about independence?
Cumming backed the Yes campaign in 2014 and has previously declared that he would return to Scotland to do the same for indyref2.
In 2020, he was asked on The Nine if he would come back to support a second independence referendum and he replied “Yes” without hesitation.
He explained: “I think if anything has changed since the last referendum in the political situation it would be to me, that it is more obvious now that Scotland can do better itself and that Westminster does not have Scotland’s interests at heart.”
The actor previously said that Scottish independence would be the only positive thing to come from Brexit.
He has also given plenty praise to Nicola Sturgeon down the years. In the same interview with the BBC, he said: “I think Nicola is doing such a great job in terms of leading the country through this terrible thing (the pandemic) and I think she has got a lot of justified respect with people who weren’t perhaps always on Team Nicola, so that’s a positive thing.”
“Appalled by the Tories”
The award-winning actor has also made his views on the Tory party clear. While touring his one-man show about Robert Burns, he was asked what he made of the Conservative leadership election between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
He described both candidates as being “horrendous for Britain, let alone for Scotland”.
On Truss, who said that the best thing to do with Sturgeon was “ignore” her, Cumming said: “I think Liz Truss demeaning Nicola Sturgeon let alone any opinions on independence as another political leader in Britain is really shabby.
“Liz Truss demeaning Nicola Sturgeon just shows the condescension and is really a part of the overall problem of Westminster dismissing Scottish people” Actor Alan Cumming offers his thoughts on the Conservative leadership contest.#TheNine pic.twitter.com/MQ5bv5Yfkq
— The Nine (@BBCScotNine) August 17, 2022
“This kind of shows the condescension and is really part of the overall problem of Westminster dismissing Scottish people, let alone the leader of the Scottish people.”
He previously stated in an interview with The Telegraph that he thinks about Scottish independence in the same way as the abortion debate in America.
He explained: “It should be a woman’s right to self-determine what she does with her body – white men shouldn’t decide that.
“In the same way, Scotland should be able to make decisions about its future. That shouldn’t be decided by people who don’t care about it and have ulterior motives.”
Hitting out at the BBC
In 2019, the actor slammed the BBC for “suppressing news about independence”.
This came in the aftermath of a Lord Ashcroft poll which put Yes at 52% which was not reported on the broadcaster’s website until 12 hours after the results were published.
The Good Wife star wrote on his social media: “News alert! @BBCScotlandNews is biased and suppressing news about Scottish independence!”
