SIR TOM FARMER, one of Scotland’s richest businessmen and founder of the Kwik-Fit empire, has revealed that he believes Scottish independence is inevitable.

The Edinburgh-born tycoon said the issue of separatism is now uppermost in the minds of many people in the Scottish business community.

Last week, Farmer revealed that he was donating £100,000 to the Scottish National party. The businessman and philanthropist, who previously gave financial backing to the Scottish Conservatives, has not joined the SNP and made it clear he only wanted to create a “level playing field” ahead of next year’s Scottish election.

However, in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, Farmer, 65, who owns Hibernian football club, said he thinks it is only a matter of time before Scotland becomes a fully independent nation.

“What we have got in Scotland at the moment with devolution is a half-way house and that is just not right. The question is how do we go forward from this?” he said.

“None of us has a crystal ball, but there is a very, very high chance that we will end up with independence. If you really press me I think it is going to happen.”

Farmer has also stated his belief that the Scottish Conservative party will no longer exist in its current form after the dissolution of the 1707 union.

The tycoon said the Scottish executive’s inability to legislate on issues such as immigration was one reason why the current devolution settlement was “unsustainable”.

“We are five million people wanting to be the greatest small country in the world, wondering why things haven’t happened quicker, he said.

“Maybe being part of a small independent country we’d realise that government can’t do everything for us — that we need each other. Maybe people will feel their involvement is worth more in a small country than in a big one. Maybe there’s an opportunity here that we should be reaching out and grasping.”

His comments were echoed by another senior public figure, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Roman Catholics.

He said: “There is currently some frustration among the Scots about the say they have over what happens here, and that is part of what is pushing the independence movement. I can see this coming, perhaps not in the next few years, but before too long.”

The SNP was put on an election footing at its annual conference in Perth yesterday with a rallying call from Nicola Sturgeon, the party’s deputy leader.

“When we win the election, there will be an independence referendum,” she said. “It is for the people of Scotland to decide the future of our country — and that is what will happen.”

Sturgeon said an SNP administration at Holyrood would cap the level of income tax charged by local authorities after the council tax was scrapped.

The party has been boosted by a series of opinion polls that put them in a strong position to lead a coalition government after next May’s election. A recent YouGov poll for The Sunday Times showed that more people now support independence than the status quo.

Alex Salmond, the party leader, said Farmer’s comments lent further credibility to the independence cause, adding: “Sir Tom has combined a spectacular business career with an ability to retain the common touch. He is widely respected not just for his own success, but for his willingness to support Scottish causes in many areas.”

Salmond told delegates the SNP’s election war chest had broken the £500,000 barrier and that the party was well on it’s way to meeting its £1m target. Following Farmer’s contribution, a £50,000 donation was made by Ian Watson, a Scots London-based businessman, as well as further smaller contributions from other supporters.

Farmer said he wants a national debate to take place long before the Union flag is lowered for the last time from Edinburgh Castle.

“It is vitally important that we don’t just slide into this without all the important issues being widely discussed and understood first,” he said. “People should be in a position to have made the decision having really understood what the facts are.

“People want and need to know what will happen to their pensions and the NHS under independence.”

In 1998 Farmer donated more than £5,000 to the Scottish Tories and in recent years he has given smaller donations to individual politicians, including Margo MacDonald the independent nationalist MSP, in the run-up to the Scottish parliament election of 2003.

Farmer said the future of the Scottish Conservatives was uncertain.

“You are still going to have the Labour party, the SNP, the Greens and the Liberals, but I don’t think you’ll have a party called the Tories because that name doesn’t seem to fit any more up here.”

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