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JK Rowling donates £1m to Scotland's anti-independence campaign JK Rowling donates £1m to Scotland's anti-independence campaign
(about 4 hours later)
JK Rowling, the best-selling author and creator of Harry Potter, has donated £1m to the anti-independence campaign Better Together. JK Rowling, the multimillionaire author of the Harry Potter novels, has donated £1m to the campaign against Scottish independence after warning that it could be a "historically bad mistake" to leave the UK.
A long-standing supporter and donor to the Labour party and to charity, Rowling's donation is the largest single gift yet given to Better Together, which is run by her friend Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor. Rowling said she believed Scotland is an "exceptional" country but was convinced that independence would carry serious economic risks, damaging funding for the world-class medical research she has supported with multimillion pound donations after her mother's death from multiple sclerosis.
In a statement on her website, Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh, said: "I came to the question of independence with an open mind and an awareness of the seriousness of what we are being asked to decide. Her £1m donation was made on Tuesday, just as the yes and no campaigns marked 100 days before September's referendum. It was the the biggest donation yet made to the pro-UK Better Together campaign, run by her friend and former neighbour Alistair Darling.
"My hesitance at embracing independence has nothing to do with lack of belief in Scotland's remarkable people or its achievements. The simple truth is that Scotland is subject to the same 21st-century pressures as the rest of the world. While her support for the no camp is not unexpected, the size and timing of the donation delighted senior figures in the no campaign, coming to light five days after the US president, Barack Obama, whose election victories have inspired the yes campaign, indicated he opposed independence.
"It must compete in the same global markets, defend itself from the same threats and navigate what still feels like a fragile economic recovery. The more I listen to the yes campaign, the more I worry about its minimisation and even denial of risks. Rowling explained her decision in a 1,600-word essay on her website, arguing that devolution had allowed Scotland to flourish and protected its public services.
"Whenever the big issues are raised – our heavy reliance on oil revenue if we become independent, what currency we'll use, whether we'll get back into the EU – reasonable questions are drowned out by accusations of 'scaremongering.' Meanwhile, dramatically differing figures and predictions are being slapped in front of us by both campaigns, so that it becomes difficult to know what to believe." Rowling said she understood the romantic faith in Scotland's capacity to stand on its own. The argument it could be fairer, greener and more equal "sounds highly appealing".
She continued: "If we leave, though, there will be no going back. This separation will not be quick and clean: it will take microsurgery to disentangle three centuries of close interdependence, after which we will have to deal with three bitter neighbours. But she said there were too many unanswered questions about oil, currency and EU membership, as well as authoritative unbiased evidence that the Scottish government's spending plans were too reliant on volatile oil revenues.
"I doubt that an independent Scotland will be able to bank on its ex-partners' fond memories of the old relationship once we've left. The rest of the UK will have had no say in the biggest change to the union in centuries, but will suffer the economic consequences." Rowling added: "If we leave, though, there will be no going back. This separation will not be quick and clean: it will take microsurgery to disentangle three centuries of close interdependence, after which we will have to deal with three bitter neighbours."
Rowling made her support for the no campaign public when she was Darling's guest of honour at the no campaign's first fundraising concert, starring the comedian and Labour activist Eddie Izzard, in Edinburgh earlier this year. She said a decision by Scotland to reject independence would improve its standing with the rest of the UK, improving its chances of getting further powers, and would allow her adopted home country to flourish.
Better Together has been warning its supporters and donors for months that it is being outspent by its opponents at Yes Scotland, which has had £3.5m donated to it by just one couple, the Euromillions jackpot winners Chris and Colin Weir - which constitutes nearly 80% of Yes Scotland's income. Rowling, who moved to Edinburgh in 1993, added that she was bracing herself for abusive attacks from hardline nationalists who questioned her English roots and demonised any critics of independence. "By residence, marriage, and out of gratitude for what this country has given me, my allegiance is wholly to Scotland and it is in that spirit that I have been listening to the months of arguments and counter-arguments," she said.
Margaret Curran, Labour's shadow Scottish secretary, said this was a "significant and welcome" act by Rowling but claimed that even that £1m left the no campaign poorer than their opponents at Yes Scotland. Rowling's support for Better Together, which has struggled to keep pace with the £3.5m in donations to the pro-independence group Yes Scotland from the Euromillions winners Chris and Colin Weir, became public when she appeared as Darling's guest of honour at a fundraising concert for the no campaign by Eddie Izzard in Edinburgh earlier this year.
"It doesn't take a wizard to work out that Alex Salmond's case for breaking up the UK simply isn't a risk worth taking," Curran said. She made clear she opposed independence in a BBC interview in September 2012, stating that the global recession was a bad time to consider leaving the UK. "I just think now is a time for stability. And Scotland's doing great under devolution. I think economically we're in a pretty stable, sound condition," she said.
"JK Rowling's donation to the Better Together campaign will be put to good use in taking the fight to the nationalists. People cannot be complacent, though. We are up against a campaign supported by big lottery winners. We still need more donations and more support to make sure that people in Scotland say no thanks to separation once and for all." As well as donating a reputed £160m for medical research, single mothers' charities and other causes, Rowling has publicly supported the Labour party. Rowling, who is a friend of Sarah Brown – the wife of former prime minister Gordon Brown – donated £1m to Labour in 2008.
As some nationalists reacted furiously to her donation on Twitter, a spokesman for Yes Scotland said: "While we may disagree with her views, we of course completely respect JK Rowling and her right to express her opinion on the referendum and donate to the no campaign. Her gift to Better Together was welcomed by Margaret Curran, Labour's shadow Scottish secretary, who said it was a "significant and welcome intervention from one of this country's most talented and successful women".
"And while we do not agree with her choice, we can all agree with her strong point that if the majority of people in Scotland do vote yes, then she truly hopes that it is a 'resounding success'." "Separation is failing to win support among women and more and more of us are saying 'No thanks' to Alex Salmond's plan. It doesn't take a wizard to work out that Alex Salmond's case for breaking up the UK simply isn't a risk worth taking," she said.
It had a more guarded response from independence campaigners. Elaine C Smith, the Rab C Nesbit star and Yes Scotland board member, said she was "obviously disappointed" but respected Rowling's right to donate to the no campaign.
"As one of the worlds leading fictional authors I'm sure she can provide some good material for the no camp in the runup to September," she quipped.
David Greig, the playwright and West End director and a yes campaigner, said he thought Rowling's endorsement could make a difference to the campaign. "Not because she's a celebrity, but because it's accompanied by a really thoughtful, genuine piece of writing. A lot of undecided voters will read that and it will chime with them. And that's a good thing. We need more thoughtful and interesting contributions," he said.
Better Together officials said the gift, which dwarfs the gifts of other celebrity backers such as the £501 given by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, would help fund the campaign's running and staffing costs.
As Curran renewed her appeal for further donations to the no campaign, the group insisted it would not put the organisation in breach of its official £1.5m spending limit imposed by the Electoral Commission for the final 16-week referendum campaign.
Better Together said they employed nearly 40 full-time staff, and remained short of cash.
The £1.5m spending limit covered advertising, events, campaigning costs and office overheads but not staff salaries.
Polling evidence suggests more than 90% of voters believe they are not influenced by celebrity endorsements. John Curtice, the polling expert at Strathclyde university, said they could be very effective at generating positive publicity around a campaign, but Scottish referendum voters would pay attention to the detailed arguments.
"The Scottish referendum is not on a subject which people know very little about and are therefore looking for people to give them cues: this is a serious debate which touches on people's values and have been arguing about for 40 years."