Nicola Sturgeon should use Boris Johnson’s “simplistic” Brexit tactics to win independence, according to a leading expert on referendums.
Professor Matt Qvortrup said Alex Salmond lost his fight for independence in 2014 because he tried to be too transparent. Intellectual arguments for separation are less effective than emotional propaganda, Qvortrup added.
Johnson and Nigel Farage successfully took the United Kingdom out the European Union by making “simplistic claims, which were at best based on weak, if existing, evidence”.
•Support for Union grows following death of Queen
Qvortrup, professor of political science at Coventry University, has been present at every independence referendum around the world over the past two decades.
The Times has obtained exclusive extracts from his new book, I Want to Break Free:
