BRIAN Cox has announced he will be back on the campaign trail to persuade his fellow Scots to back independence.
The Dundee-born actor said breaking free from the Union was “more important now than it was in 2014” at the last vote on Scotland’s future.
In an exclusive interview by Lorraine Wilson for the Sunday National, Cox slammed the current UK Government and said it was not interested in helping ordinary people as he revealed his relish for a renewed independence campaign.
Cox, best known for his roles in the hit HBO series Succession and Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, was won over to the cause of Scottish independence after he left the Labour Party over the Iraq War.
Asked whether he would be on the campaign trail come the next referendum, he said: “Absolutely, without question. It’s more important now than it was in 2014. We’ve seen how futility-ridden this government is.”
He took aim at former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who is currently trailing behind Liz Truss in opinion polls among Tory members who are electing the next prime minister.
Citing a recent gaffe from Sunak, who insisted he was not “out of touch” with the cost-of-living crisis because he does not “judge” people on their bank balance, Cox skewered the richest MP in the House of Commons.
He said: “Rishi Sunak is quoted as saying he’s not interested in people’s bank balances. Well, he should be. Those who have more than enough and those who have nothing. Those that can’t afford a bank balance.”
Speaking ahead of the Edinburgh premier of She/Her, a play by his director wife Nicole Ansari-Cox, the New York-based actor warned the media in the UK was “moving towards” a US-style situation where all news was “biased opinions”.
Ansari-Cox’s play features a series of monologues – including from non-professional actors – about diverse experiences of womanhood.
Scottish star Alan Cumming helped her connect with trans actor Callie Rose Petal for a part in the performance.
THE German-born actor also revealed her deep love of Scotland, and how she predicted she would marry a Scotsman at the age of 12.
Cox recently lent his voice to video campaigns by Yes Scotland, the activist wing of the SNP, and has supported the party publicly since the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.
His journey to Yes was a typical one: a long-term Labour supporter from the former industrial heartlands of Scotland, he became disillusioned by the party’s rightward lurch under the leadership of former prime minister Tony Blair.
After the disastrous invasion of Iraq – a war which cost at least 15,000 lives all told – Cox announced his support for the SNP under the leadership of Alex Salmond ahead of the party’s historic 2011 election victory which saw the party gain majority control at Holyrood.
He has previously branded Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “compulsive liar” and said Labour’s “empty rhetoric” had caused the party’s support across its former heartlands to collapse.
Read the full interview here
