‘Independence not impossible but Scotland is currently like a bust company’ says Labour donor

A Labour peer and major party donor has said he would back Scottish independence if presented with a credible economic growth plan.

However refrigeration tycoon Willie Haughey – who is worth an estimated £390million – warned that as things stand the country is more like a bust company.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail the businessman insisted an independent Scotland could be “absolutely booming” if it adopted a business-friendly “tax haven” regime such as in Ireland.

He said: “If Scotland was a business just now, we’d have the administrators in. What Scotland has never done is put up a credible economic case for independence.

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“Some people who support independence no matter what don’t care and that’s fair enough. But the reality would kick in very shortly for the people thereafter that you do need an economic case if you want to be independent.

“If you want to convince somebody like me who voted No – not because I’m a staunch unionist but because I think the country is better off being part of the union financially – then it’s all to do with economics.

“If there was a strong, credible economic argument where all the people of Scotland would be better off, then I would think about it.”

On a podcast with fellow businessman Sir Tom Hunter last weekend, Haughey said he’d vote for a UK split “in a heartbeat” with the right economic plan.

Haughey stressed it would take a lot for him to consider backing breaking away from the UK and warned Scotland is “long way away” from that at present.

It comes after the SNP swept to a fifth term in office in this month’s Holyrood election and immediately began calling for a second referendum. But John Swinney’s government also faces a huge £4.7billion black hole in the nation’s public finances.

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The multimillionaire Celtic investor said the basis for any viable economic case would be a tax regime that encouraged businesses to come here.

He pointed to the example of the Republic of Ireland, which serves as the European headquarters for nearly 1000 US companies, including major tech giants like Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, due to its attractive corporate tax rate.

Haughey’s comments harked back to Alex Salmond’s old argument, prior to the 2008 financial crisis which crippled Irish banks, that Scotland could follow the example of Ireland’s “Celtic tiger” economy.

Haughey added: “How can we have a £5billion deficit when they’ve got a £10.5billion surplus? Let’s look at why Ireland has been so successful and look at what they’ve been doing.

“There’s no doubt we have prospered greatly from being part of the union – that’s a fact. I would just like to see someone put a legitimate case in front of the people of Scotland – especially people who need help the most – to prosper more.

“People think tax havens are just great for people who don’t want to pay tax. See the indigenous people who live in Monaco, they get all the benefits such as rent freezes, such as the people who need help the most getting help. You have got the rich helping the poor.”

Haughey, who set up the hugely successful City Refrigeration in 1985, has donated around £2million to Labour at a UK, Scottish and local level.

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The SNP won an emphatic Scottish Parliament victory on May 7 taking a total of 58 Holyrood seats. It was seven short of an overall majority that Swinney had claimed during the campaign would break the “constitutional logjam” with Westminster.

However Swinney has vowed to kickstart his IndyRef2 plans regardless, arguing the record 15 seats won by the pro-indy Scottish Greens amounted to a “pro-independence mandate” along with his party.

On his Go Radio podcast Haughey told Hunter: “Come and show us a tangible business plan for the country to stand alone and we’ll say yes and we’ll vote for it, we’ll vote for it in a heartbeat.

“I remember saying to Alex Salmond, 15-20 years ago, come and tell me you’re going to be a tax haven and I’ll vote for it tomorrow because I know the country would flourish.

“Not because I don’t want to pay tax, but because people will flock here who want to invest in businesses and the place would be absolutely booming.”

Hunter replied: “I’m certainly not anti-Scottish… I’m just the same as you, I want to see Scotland flourish. If there was a way for independence to happen that I thought Scotland would flourish, I would be all for it.”

But he said the big “economic barrier” of how an independent Scottish government would make up for the loss of funding from Westminster had to be addressed.

Hunter added: “Without the right people and without the right economic plan, Scotland’s people will be worse off in independence, not better off.”

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Prominent business figures who backed the Yes campaign in 2014 included former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir George Mathewson and former chairman of investment agency Scottish Enterprise Sir Donald MacKay.

Shipyards tycoon Jim McColl, former owner of Ferguson Marine, also came out as a supporter but then reversed his position in 2015. He subsequently fell out with the Scottish Government over the ferries scandal.

Dr Marie Macklin CBE, one of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs and property developers, also backed Yes in 2014 but said the focus now should be the Scottish and UK governments working together to deliver growth.

She said: “With a £4.7billion black hole heading towards us and low growth I would suggest both governments steady the ship before we have an economic crash like 1992 and 2008. They should start driving economic growth and instigate favorable taxation for workers and SME business.

“Both the UK and Scottish Governments should commit to growth and work together to deliver it rather than fight over jurisdiction during a crisis.

“That means we should be doing far more to create jobs, to reindustrialise Scotland and to make the most of our natural resources. That includes renewables, but also North Sea oil and gas, where we should be pressing ahead with exploration – just like Norway is – instead of turning our backs on it.”

Haughey is a lifelong supporter of Labour but has previously called on the party to work with the SNP to agree a Scottish budget to tackle a ballooning budget black hole.

He made his fortune supplying and maintaining refrigeration equipment for supermarkets and now has business interests around the world.

Haughey was knighted in 2012 and it was announced he was going to be a Labour peer in the House of Lords the following year.

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He is a previous winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Scotland award.

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