Actor Ewan McGregor has changed his mind on Scottish independence, telling a US talk show that the Brexit referendum made him rethink his position.
The Trainspotting star, who was previously against breaking up the union, voiced his support for a second referendum during a video-call interview on late night programme Real Time With Bill Maher.
Crieff-born McGregor told the show: “I was always for keeping the Union, I thought it worked, it works.
“Then after the Brexit vote, I think for sure I’ve changed my tune about it.”
The 49-year-old father-of-four said: “I think Scotland has been voting for a government that they haven’t been given for years.
“We’re a very left-voting country, Scotland, and we’ve been under Conservative rule for years.”
The actor had originally spoken out against independence at the time of the 2014 referendum, but later admitted to being left “totally confused” after Brexit.
He said he was in Scotland filming T2: Trainspotting when the EU vote took place.
After seeing a map of areas that wanted to remain in the EU and the areas that wanted to leave, he said: “I thought: That’s it, you know. The Scottish people want to stay in the European Union and the English don’t.
“So I just think, probably it’s time.”
McGregor now joins fellow Perthshire actor Alan Cumming, and Scots star Sean Connery, in supporting independence.
The actor, who began his acting career at Perth Theatre, had previously told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “The truth is I didn’t want Scotland to be independent in 2014.
“I didn’t understand how it was going to work. I was worried Scotland would flounder if it was on its own and I believed in the Union and I felt like we were stronger together.”
He told Marr in 2016: “The next day I would have voted absolutely for Scotland to leave, I really would have done.”
McGregor did not have a vote in 2016 because he wasn’t living in Scotland.
The star has pulled no punches in speaking out against the campaign to take the UK out of the bloc.
A week after the EU vote, he launched a foul-mouthed tired on Twitter at leading Brexiteer Boris Johnston.
He called him “spineless” for conducting a “ludicrous campaign” and then, as victor, leaving it to “someone else to clean up your mess”.
