Don't shut the door on your fellow citizens LABOUR leader Ed Miliband has attacked the SNP's plans for independence as "shutting the door on the problems of your fellow citizens" as he made his first intervention following Alex Salmond's announcement of the autumn 2014 date for the referendum. Mr Miliband dismissed Mr Salmond's talk of a socially just independent Scotland. He used a keynote speech in Glasgow yesterday to claim there was "nothing progressive" about abandoning the poor in the other parts of the UK. He also issued a stark warning about a "race to the bottom," where companies could locate where it was financially advantageous, as he claimed the majority of major UK firms employing people in Scotland had their HQs in other parts of Britain. Labour said House of Commons figures showed that the number of people employed by registered large companies in Scotland was 327,460, compared with 332,170 employed by companies registered within the UK outside Scotland. Mr Miliband, who made his speech alongside Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont and shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran said: "Because our economies are as connected as they are, more people in Scotland are employed by large companies based in the rest of the UK than in Scotland. Mr Miliband told an audience that included Labour activists, trade unionists and business leaders that he wanted a fair, just and equal United Kingdom, as he talked about similarities between Scottish workers and those living in other parts of the country. The Labour leader stressed it was "not a case based on fear of separatism" but based on "hope for a more equal, more just, more progressive future." He said: "There is nothing progressive about a vision which says a pensioner in Liverpool is no concern of his, a child growing up in poverty in east London is no concern of his, a disabled person in the Midlands is no concern of his. Mr Miliband went onto say that the independence referendum must be "based on one clear question that gives one clear answer." However, he accused the SNP of trying "to avoid talking about the substance of separation," but on the benefits of keeping the Union. He said: "If the people of Scotland decide to separate, as they can, it would not affect Scotland alone. But Mr Miliband's speech was dismissed as ill-informed by senior SNP MSP Bill Kidd, who said: "Ed Miliband is the least popular Westminster leader in Scotland - his satisfaction ratings have been as low as minus 70. It becomes clear why after his speech, in which he failed yet again to present a positive vision for Scotland's future.