Now Margaret Thatcher is being drawn into the Scottish independence debate

It may be more than 23 years since she last held office but the late Baroness Thatcher has now been drawn into the battle over Scottish independence – by the Nationalists.

In fact, the real surprise is not that Alex Salmond has decided to invoke the legacy of Thatcher in his crusade to break up Britain, but that he has taken so long to do so. Lady Thatcher has long been seen by the SNP as the perfect recruiting tool for Scottish nationalism. They have always liked to portray her as a public sector-slashing, industry-destroying, remote, anti-Scottish Tory.

So when papers emerged last week under the 30-year rule showing that Lady Thatcher had tried to cut a swathe through the Scottish budget in 1984, the Nationalists seized on it. A spokesman for Mr Salmond described the revelations in the papers as ‘astonishing’, not just because Lady Thatcher tried to cut a massive amount from the Scottish budget but that this was concealed from Scottish voters.