WITH next year’s Holyrood election coming amid increased support for Scottish independence and just months on from the US presidential vote, it’s likely the next American leader will face questions on the matter at some point.

Barack Obama was the US president in 2014 during the independence referendum campaign, and tweeted the night before the vote to say: “The UK is an extraordinary partner for America and a force for good in an unstable world. I hope it remains strong, robust and united.”

At the time Democratic candidate Joe Biden, the frontrunner in the 2020 campaign, was the US vice president.

He was asked about the Scottish referendum during a campaign trip to Iowa – but he avoided taking sides.

He said: “I think the United Kingdom, uh, well look, I learned from Scottish friends, the last thing to do is to suggest to a Scot what he should do.

"So I’m going to stay out of that. We have a great alliance now."

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Meanwhile, Donald Trump – who is currently self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus – has made his views on independence clear.

In 2015, before becoming president, Trump was asked if there should be a second Scottish independence referendum He said: “I don’t know how they can do that – go through all that again. I’ve never heard of a thing like that. It’s crazy.”

He added: “I didn’t want to get involved in it, but people asked me and I think Scotland is better being unified as opposed to being independent.”

Two years later Trump said that Scottish independence would be “terrible”, citing fears over the future of the Open golf championship.

He doubted whether there should be a new vote in Scotland, saying: "They just went through hell."

The president noted “they’d no longer have the British Open”, adding: "Scotland. Keep it in Scotland."

The US election is due to take place on November 3, but Trump’s shock coronavirus diagnosis has thrown the campaign into disarray.

The virus will remove Trump from events for at least a third of the time remaining before votes are cast.

He is due to take on Biden in another debate on October 15, but this will depend on how the president’s recovery goes.