Loser.

Mr Smith thinks the fundamental point isn't that there are "weaknesses" in the Scottish economy. It is the fact that an independent Scotland would have access to a fraction of the financial resources available to the UK Government at a time of economic recession and massive public debt. That is why the SNP won't win an independence referendum in 2010.

"A PROMINENT Nationalist has called on Alex Salmond to abandon plans for a referendum in 2010 because of the economic crisis. In the New Statesman, the media commentator and academic Rob Brown, a former media editor at Scotland on Sunday and a member of the SNP, argues that the financial meltdown has exposed weaknesses in the Scottish economy and prevailing attitudes among the Scottish population."