STEVE Coogan has said that part of him wants Scotland to vote for independence just to “give a bloody nose to English, London establishment thinkers".
Speaking to The National, the comedian discussed his evolving views on Scotland leaving the Union.
Coogan, who is currently touring the UK with his new stage show Stratagem with Alan Partridge Live, said the Brexit vote led him to consider moving to Scotland.
He said while Britain was an “insular” place, Scotland remained an “outward-looking” country.
While England voted 53.4% to leave the EU, an overwhelming 62% of Scotland voted to remain - the highest proportion of any UK nation.
Coogan, who describes himself as a keen European, said Brexit changed his view on backing Yes. But he added that he was still on the fence over what the consequences for the whole of the UK would be if Scotland were to leave.
The actor said: “I wish England was different, I did consider after Brexit, 'Oh I'll move to Scotland' just because Scotland is more outward-looking and Britain has this insularity that's to do with the Empire, to do with its lost glory that it's never quite gotten over.
“But my slight antipathy is that I'm more sympathetic to the Labour Party than the Conservative Party, I've made no secret of that.
“If Scotland were to break away then, my worry is that there would never be another Labour government in England ever again. And that bothers me, because in a way, if Scotland broke away it would be bad for people who want to challenge the establishment in England.”
Coogan said he worries that if Scotland left the UK, those in England who want the Conservatives out of government would have fewer friends - and fewer voters.
He continued: “It’s almost like it would be great for Scotland but for people like me and other people who want to challenge the status quo, it wouldn't be good because we'd have fewer friends. That's the best way of putting it.”
The English actor said he wished devolution had been implemented “more effectively” but added that it was not just Scotland that’s been “neglected” by Westminster.
He said: “Now, I'm from Manchester, and we are neglected in the same way that Scotland has been historically neglected. It's not just a Scottish thing, the centralisation of power. So I've got a great deal of sympathy [for independence].
“Sometimes I feel like saying part of me would like Scotland to break away just to give a bloody nose to those sort of English, London-centric establishment thinkers. But then, I also feel like the people on my side of politics need to stick together, whatever side of the Border.
“I mean, I'm half Irish. I'd like to see a united Ireland, so I do have a lot of sympathy with Scotland wanting independence. I suppose I'm sort of on the fence about it, for different reasons, but certainly, I'm much more sympathetic these days than I have been in the past.”
Coogan was among the 200 notable figures to sign the Guardian's letter in 2014. The letter said Scotland and the rest of Britain had more in common than what divided them.
And the Coogan still believes there are “basic values” that unite those across the four nations of the UK.
“I'd say people who have my political sympathies lie on all sides of the Border,” he said.
“And people who have my worldview, my view of life, lie on both sides of the Border. There are establishment figures who I don't like to think of myself as, uber-conservative types on both sides of the Border.
“There are basic values that unite people on both sides of the Border but I think that it seems that that's less true now that Britain has embraced Brexit.”
Coogan was more hopeful for the future though, saying that a majority of the UK didn’t vote for Brexit due to those who stayed home out of “apathy”.
He pointed to polls which showed if the vote was held today, remain would win.
The 56-year-old didn’t appear to think Boris Johnson had helped the Union at all, and suggested the Prime Minister should have stuck to “light entertainment”.
Asked about a Channel 4 interview in which Boris Johnson said that although he agreed to the trade barriers created by the Northern Ireland protocol, he had hoped the EU would not apply them.
“You must be furious with whoever signed up to a deal this bad?” Boris Johnson wants to make reforms to the Northern Ireland Protocol, @PGMcNamara asks the prime minister why he signed it in the first place? pic.twitter.com/BJkPVuJWK3
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) May 16, 2022
Responding to the clip, Coogan laughed before saying: "It's bizarre. Look, the guy’s out of his depth really.
"He’s just not Prime Minister material. He is a bit of a joke. He was a TV light entertainer and that’s all he is.”
Stratagem with Alan Partridge Live comes to Glasgow's SSE Arena on May 24 and 25, Edinburgh Playhouse on May 26 and Aberdeen's P&J Live on May 27.
