POLLING expert Professor John Curtice has said Alex Salmond “did more than anybody else” to make independence central to the debate about Scotland’s future.

Curtice spoke to Sky News on Sunday after the sudden death of Salmond on Saturday afternoon in North Macedonia.

Salmond died aged 69 while attending the Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the city of Ohrid.

Mark Donfried, director of organisers the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, said he collapsed during lunch, adding that he was in “a state of shock” over the incident.

Curtice said the former first minister ensured the question of independence became a “central issue” in Scottish politics.

READ MORE: See the last pictures of Alex Salmond before his death

He said: “The truth is Mr Salmond is probably the person who did more than anybody else to move the argument about independence, and indeed his party, the Scottish Nationalist Party, from being a relatively fringe interest that never looked as though it was going to happen to be something that is now central to the debate about the future of Scotland.”

He said the issue “continues to be central” even though the argument in favour was rejected by 55% of people in the 2014 independence referendum.

(Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

“So to that extent, yes, Mr Salmond didn’t succeed in delivering independence for his country, but he certainly ensured that the question as to whether or not Scotland should or should not be independent has become a central issue of Scottish politics,” Curtice added.

Figures from across the SNP have paid tribute to Salmond, who led the party twice, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014.

READ MORE: Tributes pour in for former first minister Alex Salmond

He stood down as party leader following the independence campaign's defeat in 2014, and later resigned. 

First Minister John Swinney shared a “deeply emotional” memory of hearing Salmond speak on the radio when the SNP won the 2007 Holyrood election.

He said on the BBC: “He talked about Scotland had changed and changed forever and would never be the same again because of our election win in 2007.

“It was a deeply emotional moment for me because I heard my party leader at the time indicating that we’d taken a colossal step forward on our journey to independence.”

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the news of Salmond’s death was “impossible to process” adding he had a “monumental impact” on the SNP and the independence movement.

His successor Nicola Sturgeon also paid tribute to Salmond who she described as an “incredibly significant figure in my life”.

The pair had a public fallout following allegations of sexual misconduct made against Salmond while in office to both police and the Scottish Government. He was later cleared of the allegations.

Sturgeon said: “Obviously, I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try.