David Cameron accused of 'Thatcher-esque' interference in Scottish referendum by Alex Salmond Asked if he was wriggling away from putting a straightforward single independence question on the ballot paper because he feared he would lose, he replied: "I think listeners across these islands will not associate Alex Salmond and wriggling very closely together." Mr Salmond rejected government claims that he has not legal power to hold a vote on Scottish independece. In a direct challenge to the legal authority of the UK Government, the Scottish First Minister pledged a referendum "made, built, and run in Scotland." He made a statement yesterday me less than an hour after Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, told MPs that only ministers at Westminster have the legal power to call a valid legal referendum on Scotland's future. Yesterday's moves raised the stakes in the political confrontation Mr Cameron has triggered with the First Minister and his Scottish National Party over the future of the United Kingdom. Mr Salmond has said he wants to use his majority in the Scottish Parliament to trigger a referendum no earlier than 2014. But the Prime Minister wants to instigate a vote more quickly than that claiming the uncertainity is damaging the economy. Former Chancellor Alistair Darling said he believed the pro-Union campaign would win the argument but warned Labour it must work with Liberal Democrats and Conservatives to get the message across. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Let's be clear, the only reason we have been put off until 2014 is because Alex Salmond doesn't think he can win just now and he is playing for time." The Labour MP for Edinburgh South West said much of Scotland's political history over the last 40 years had been dominated by "process and political squabbling." " Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said no one was challenging the fact that the SNP had a right to hold a referendum. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Remember this - independence isn't just for Christmas. This is asking people to make a decision to bring to an end 300 years of constitutional arrangements. There is an important distinction between a political mandate and lawful authority, legality, and it seems to me that it would be very, very difficult and quite wrong for these constitutional issues to become embroiled in legality as to how we make that decision.