Spanish and Catalan newspapers see Cameron’s speech differently

David Cameron made an impassioned plea on Friday at Olympic Park for Scotland to stay within the United Kingdom, asking the English, Welsh, and Northern Irish to do ‘whatever necessary’ to persuade the Scottish to vote ‘No’ in the referendum on independence next September 18. Cameron continued, ‘So to everyone in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; everyone, like me, who cares about the United Kingdom, I want to say this: you don’t have a vote, but you do have a voice. Those voting are our friends, neighbours and family. You do have an influence. Get on the phone, get together, email, tweet, speak. Let the message ring out from Manchester to Motherwell, from Pembrokeshire to Perth, from Belfast to Bute, from us to the people of Scotland – let the message be this: we want you to stay.’

Spanish and Catalan coverage of the speech was remarkable in its range.

The headline used by Spain’s Madrid-based, centrist newspaper El País, was “Cameron to Scotland: Don’t go” with a subtitle that explains that ‘The British Prime Minister gave a speech in which he focused on the virtues of the European Union in order to avoid secession’.

ABC, the Madrid-based newspaper more closely aligned to the right wing Popular Party said “Cameron asks the English, Welsh, and Northern Irish to defend the union”, and in the subtitle add, ‘The British Prime Minister puts on his friendliest face to tell the Scottish, ‘We want you to stay’.

La Razón, Madrid-based right-wing paper said “Cameron finds it ‘extremely difficult’ that Scotland continue with the pound”, with a subtitle, ‘The British Prime Minister warns that secession would harm the stability of the United Kingdom, which is a key factor for attracting investment’.

Barcelona papers

In Barcelona, the left-leaning El Periódico wrote ‘Cameron warns of the dangers of Scottish independence’, with a subtitle, ‘The British Prime Minister makes an impassioned plea for unity’.

Diari ARA and El Punt Avui had identical headlines, ‘Cameron to Scotland: We want you to stay’ and identical subtitles, ‘The British Prime Minister says that independence would “profoundly” affect the entire United Kingdom but the SNP accuses him of being a coward for making the speech from London.’

And finally, here at VilaWeb we used this quote from Cameron: “The decision about independence can only be made by the Scottish alone’. Our subtitle was ‘Primer Minister David Cameron calls the British to seduce the Scottish’.

No coverage at all

Madrid-based El Mundo and Barcelona conservative daily La Vanguardia didn’t cover Cameron’s speech in their online afternoon editions on Friday.