SALMOND: DITCH THE MONARCHY

Former FM says independent Scotland needs elected head of state. He admits SNP would have been insane to campaign against Queen

- CHRIS MCCALL

ALEX Salmond says that he wants Scotland to ditch the monarchy if it becomes independent.

In his time in office, the former first minister rubbed shoulders with royalty, including the late Queen and the new King, regularly.

But now he says that he wants to follow the example of Ireland by getting rid of the royals - and said it would have been "insane" to have campaigned against them while the Queen was alive.

Salmond, the SNP's first minister from 2007 to 2014 and now the leader of the Alba Party, was a supporter of the monarchy while in office.

He insisted before the 2014 independence referendum that the then-Queen would become "Queen of Scots" in the event of a Yes vote.

But speaking to the Record ahead of tomorrow's Coronation, he said: "I admired the Queen enormously. I thought that she was an extraordinary woman in many ways.