Donald Brydon dares to speak out on independence

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Royal Mail's chairman has entered the independence debate, urging his fellow countrymen to support the Union

Royal Mail chairman Donald Brydon is a businessman with a faultless City pedigree.

He made his name at Barclays and enhanced it further at Axa; as a company chairman he has pulled off a series of astute boardroom deals. His voice is worth listening to.

So it is refreshing to hear Mr Brydon entering the independence debate, urging his fellow countrymen to support the Union.

“Choosing to accentuate your differences and divide people who have hitherto lived harmoniously together since Bannockburn is a really sad way of conducting human affairs,” he tells us in an interview on Tuesday.

Mr Brydon does not rubbish the economic case for independence – though plenty of others would do so. Instead, he worries that Scotland will fall into the trap of becoming a smaller country that “defines itself by not being the big one”.

His intervention is welcome. As The Telegraph argued earlier this month, too many business leaders who privately express concerns about the impact of independence are unwilling to make the same case publicly.

Many are scared to speak out, worried about a backlash against their companies, as Lord Wallace, the Advocate General for Scotland, acknowledged when he urged bosses “not to be intimidated”.

It is true that, as chairman of a high-profile national company, Mr Brydon is somewhat removed from the goldfish bowl of business north of the border. That gives him the luxury of speaking his mind without fearing the ramifications for his shareholders.

Nevertheless, he has set an example that other business leaders should now follow. The independence debate is simply too important for the voice of business to be absent.

[wandle]

Management speaking up, in favour of the union? Whatever next!