MORE than 200 celebrities from the worlds of sport, literature, theatre and the arts have signed an open love letter to the people of Scotland, urging them to vote no to independence in next month’s referendum.

TV historians Dan Snow and Tom Holland have corralled a diverse range of public figures — from Sir Mick Jagger, to sports commentator Dickie Bird, artist Tracey Emin to TV academic Mary Beard — who have declared their love of Scotland and called on its people to remember “the bonds of citizenship” which bind the union together.

The letter, which includes the names of 18 gold-medal-winning athletes, 44 Bafta winners, two dames, 12 professors and a Nobel prize-winner, pleads: “We want to let you know how very much we value our bonds of citizenship with you, and to express our hope that you will vote to renew them. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let’s stay together.”

Figures from sport and arts including Mick Jagger, Tom Daley and Judi Dench call on Scots to remember ‘bonds of citizenship’

The letter — also signed by actors Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter and Patrick Stewart, entertainers Bruce Forsyth and Cliff Richard, and Olympic diver Tom Daley — will now be open to the public to add their names on the website letsstaytogether.org.uk. Snow will take the letter on a tour of the UK, stopping at West Ham in London and Corby among other towns, before travelling to Scotland at the end of the summer. Other signatories include businessman Alan Sugar, the writer Ruth Rendell, broadcaster David Attenborough, writer Michael Morpurgo and comedian Eddie Izzard.

Launching the missive outside London’s city hall, with the Thames and the City in the background, Snow urged a small group of curious passersby to sign up and show some affection. “Everyone I have been meeting, friends across the rest of the UK, have all felt strongly,” he said. Above the strains of Al Green’s Let Stay Together, he told the small crowd: “Of course they cannot tell the Scottish people how to vote, but they can tell the Scottish people how we feel. And we want them to know that we value them highly as our fellow citizens and we hope that they take the opportunity in this referendum to renew our shared bonds of citizenship, and that’s what this letter is all about.”

Snow was flanked by TV presenters Ben Fogle and June Sarpong, who stressed their support for a campaign designed — they assured — to give love rather than direction. “We do have an opinion and are allowed to voice it,” said Fogle, who added that he had been “shot down in the past” for doing so. “This is the most important thing that will happen in our lifetime in terms of our identity with the union. I’m not allowed a vote but I’m allowed an opinion. That’s liberty, that’s part of living in democracy.”

Sarpong, who posed for selfies with members of the public, said that she “loved Scotland” and would soon be travelling up for the Edinburgh festival. “This is about saying how we feel about Scotland and the fact that we really care and we want them to stay part of the union,” she said.

Tom Holland said: “All those of us in the rest of the island who profoundly value our bonds of citizenship with the Scots, who would be distraught to see them become foreigners, and who believe that the referendum, far from separating us, may instead enable us to repledge our vows, can but watch on in hope.”

Snow said the letter was signed by people who didn’t have a vote in the referendum but did have an opinion. “They are from Northern Ireland, Wales, England — they love being in the UK and they want to simply say, ‘We are not telling you how to vote but when you do vote we hope you don’t go,’” he said. “I think some things are too important to be left to politicians.”

Asked if he thought the letter could backfire, he said: “I hope when they read the actual words they don’t feel that. The words written are about us, it’s about how we feel. We are saying, ‘You are making your decision and that is fantastic, but we hope you stay.’ We can’t be any clearer than that.”

The letter, which was launched by a video in July has already been ridiculed as a “love-bomb” by some in Scotland. Online magazine Bella Caledonia was less than complimentary about the video: “If anyone can help fill in who they all are we’d be grateful,” wrote contributor Mike Small. “And if anyone can de-code the squealing incoherent car-crash of a message, that too would help.”

At the launch of the love letter’s tour, passerby Peter Day, walking along the Thames on a day out with his family, said that while he hoped Scotland would stay in the union, he doubted that the Let’s Stay Together campaign could have much impact. “It’s an irrelevance really, isn’t it?” he said. “Just because they are actors or celebrities, what makes them think people are going to listen to them?”

—By arrangement with the Guardian

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2014