Ewan McGregor reveals he would have voted in favour of Scottish independence after hearing Brexit result

‘I believed in the union and I felt like we were stronger together. Then Brexit’s happened. Now I’m totally confused,’ says McGregor

Ewan McGregor has said he is “totally confused” about the issue of Scottish independence in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Although the actor was against Scottish independence in the run-up to the referendum in September 2014, his pro-Union views have been called into question since the Brexit vote.

McGregor said he would have voted for Scotland to leave the UK if he had been able to cast his vote the day after the UK left the EU.

He said he tried to steer clear of the Independence debate in 2014 because he is not allowed to vote in the Scottish referendum and has not lived in Scotland since he was 17. Nevertheless, he explained that the press dug up pro-union comments he made in the past regardless.

“The truth is I didn’t want Scotland to be independent in 2014. I didn’t understand how it was going to work,” he told the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

“I was worried that Scotland would flounder if it was on its own and I believed in the union and I felt like we were stronger together. Then Brexit’s happened. Now I’m totally confused.”

McGregor explained he had been in Scotland filming Trainspotting 2 on the night of the Referendum and had been shocked by the result.

“By the time I got home, I switched the television on and there’s Farage doing his victory speech and I thought: ‘He’s made a terrible mistake, he’s going to be embarrassed because he‘s announced his victory too soon.’

“I thought he’d made a mistake but of course it wasn’t to be the case. That next day I would have voted absolutely for Scotland to leave, I really would have done.”

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, McGregor made headlines when he accused Boris Johnson of behaving in a “spineless” manner after his shock announcement he would not be running for Conservative leader. He rebuked Mr Johnson for campaigning to leave the EU and then not dealing with the consequences.

“You lead this ludicrous campaign to leave EU, win, and now f*** off to let someone else clear up your mess,” McGregor wrote.

Mr Johnson announced his decision just hours after Michael Gove unexpectedly decided to run for leader instead of backing Mr Johnson.