JOIN USScotland's fate hangs in balance
On the eve of Scotland's historic referendum, opinion polls on Wednesday showed support for staying within the United Kingdom marginally stronger than backing for independence, but tens of thousands of undecided citizens agonised over which way to vote.
Leaders and supporters of both sides took to the streets for a final day of campaigning in a country gripped by excitement and hope, balanced by a good measure of dread and concern.
Voters will be asked on Thursday to answer “Yes” or “No” to the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” A “Yes” vote would spell the end of the 307-year-old union with England and the break-up of the United Kingdom, as well as a period of economic uncertainty.
Three surveys—from pollsters ICM, Opinium and Survation—showed support for independence at 48 per cent compared with 52 per cent backing for the union. They found that 8-14 per cent of Scotland's 4.3 million voters were still undecided before polls open at 0600 GMT on Thursday.
British political leaders have promised greater autonomy for Scotland if people decide to stay with the union. But independence supporters say it is time for Scotland to make its own decisions free of rule by a London elite.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who has led the independence campaign, urged Scots: “Wake up on Friday morning to the first day of a better country.”
In an open letter to voters, Salmond said Scotland's future was in their hands. Invoking 18th-century economist Adam Smith and Scotland's greatest poet Robert Burns, he said: “Don't let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don't let them tell us we can't. Let's do this.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron told the “Times” newspaper he always thought the contest would be tightly fought. “Whatever the result, we are a democracy. You have to respect the expression of people through the ballot box,” he said in an interview.
Cameron has visited Scotland twice in the past week to appeal for it to stay in the United Kingdom's “family of nations”. But he is unpopular north of the border, often dismissed as the epitome of a disdainful upper-class Englishman.
In the “Times”, Cameron defended his decision to agree to the vote and to stick to a straightforward “Yes” or “No” choice, rather than including a third option of more powers for Scotland within the UK.