Tycoon in independence vote call

Sir Tom has not made his mind up on independence

Scotland's richest man has called for an immediate independence referendum to allow the country to move on.

Sir Tom Hunter accused the country's political parties of "posturing, positioning and pontificating" over constitutional reform.

The Ayrshire billionaire tycoon and philanthropist said it was Scotland's right to determine its own destiny.

His comments came as First Minister Alex Salmond said that Scottish independence would be good for England.

The Scottish Government wants a referendum in 2010, but lacks majority support to get it through Holyrood.

Writing in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Sir Tom, who has always said he has not made his mind up on whether or not Scotland should be independent, said it was crucial that any referendum asked a simple "yes" or "no" question on the issue.

We need a majority of Scots to say 'yes' or 'no' to independence, end of story Sir Tom Hunter

He also called for more informed debate on the independence question, and claimed the public was "confused, disillusioned and frankly fed up" with the positions of the various political parties.

He said: "It is my firm belief that the Scottish people deserve the right to vote unequivocally on one key issue. Other issues follow, but there is only one vote: do you want Scotland to be independent or not? Yes or no?

"We need a majority of Scots to say 'yes' or 'no' to independence, end of story.

"A referendum is compelling because Scots want an answer to our future now so that we can invest in it, whatever we choose, for our collective future over the long term."

Sir Tom's article came after Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives announced they planned to support a commission set up to examine giving more powers for Holyrood, but without full independence.

He went on to attack a suggestion by First Minister Alex Salmond that a referendum might be held under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system.

Under the system, voters list their preferences in order.

'Difficult to resist'

The tycoon said such a system - which he described as "Simon Cowell's X Factor voting system" - could not be used to determine Scotland's future.

Sir Tom made his fortune from his Sports Division chain and is worth an estimated £1.05bn.

Last year, he pledged to donate at least £1bn to charity and has already committed £100m through his charitable foundation to fight inequality in both Scotland and Africa.

Meanwhile, Mr Salmond told the BBC's Andrew Marr that both Scotland and England would be better off after independence.

He added: "Opinion polls show various things about independence and devolution, and no doubt they show various things about political parties.

"But one thing that has always been the case, in every single opinion poll I've ever seen, is that 80% of the people of Scotland say that this matter, this issue, the constitutional future of this nation, should be decided by the people in a referendum, and it is very difficult to resist that."