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Business News/ News / World/  Scotland rejects independence as Cameron promises extra powers
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Scotland rejects independence as Cameron promises extra powers

After counting through the night, 55% of Scottish voters supported the no campaign compared with 45% who backed independence

There was a record turnout of more than 90% in some of the 32 regions. Photo: ReutersPremium
There was a record turnout of more than 90% in some of the 32 regions. Photo: Reuters

Edinburgh: Scotland voted to stay in the UK in a referendum on independence, stepping back from a breakup of the 307-year-old union while wringing promises of more financial power from Prime Minister David Cameron.

After counting through the night, 55% of Scottish voters supported the “no" campaign compared with 45% who backed independence. The pound surged ahead of the result, which gave the ‘Better Together’ campaign a wider margin of victory than suggested in opinion polls. There was a record turnout of more than 90% in some of the 32 regions.

“I accept the verdict" of the people, Alex Salmond, the leader of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government in Edinburgh, said in a speech. While conceding defeat, he stressed the broad movement that resulted in 1.6 million votes for independence. “The unionist parties made vows and Scotland will expect them to be delivered in rapid course," he said.

The referendum outcome follows two years of increasingly bitter arguments over the economic viability of independence, the currency to be used, custody of the health service and North Sea oil revenue, leaving a legacy of a divided Scotland while inspiring self-determination movements across Europe.

Cameron said he would stick with his promise to cede more policy making powers for Scotland after a “no" vote. He also pledged a constitutional shakeup of the UK that would take into account how England and Wales are governed.

London listens

Outside Downing Street in London, Cameron said the Scottish people had spoken and “we hear you." “We will ensure those commitments are honored in full."

The closeness of the contest before the vote, which saw one poll this month put the “yes" camp ahead, unnerved financial markets and triggered a last-ditch attempt by ‘Better Together’ to persuade voters that “no" would herald some of the changes Scots say they want.

The prime minister and Labour leader Ed Miliband cancelled parliamentary business and headed north a week before the vote to campaign in cities and towns across Scotland. They pledged more powers to the Scottish Parliament over taxation and welfare spending in an attempt to arrest momentum in the polls for Salmond after he outshone ‘Better Together’ campaign leader Alistair Darling in a televised debate.

‘Positive change’

Darling, a former Labour chancellor of the exchequer, used his victory speech to hail the vote for “postive change rather than needless separation." Cameron called Darling this morning to congratulate him on his successful campaign.

“They need to get their skates on and deliver," Matt Qvortrup, senior researcher at Cranfield University and author of “Referendums and Ethnic Conflict," said of the main UK parties, Cameron’s Conservatives, his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and Labour. “They should have done this earlier," he said.

The pound was set for its biggest two-day advance against the dollar in more than a year on the result.

Sterling recouped all its losses since a YouGov Plc poll on 6 September put the nationalists ahead. It extended gains tonight after a survey by the same company after people had voted signaled victory for the “no" side. The currency was up 0.3% to $1.6448 as of 7:35am in London.

Bellwether districts

As the results unfolded during the night from Scotland’s 32 council regions, early bellwethers suggested a let-off for Cameron and Miliband. In the end, only four local authorities—Dundee, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city—voted “yes."

Emily Gallagher, an 18-year-old student and “yes" supporter, said she was “devastated" by the result.

“We had a great opportunity and we blew it," she said over the din of pro-independence chants in central Glasgow. “We’ve had so many Tory governments we’ve never voted for and that’s just going to go on."

That the referendum took place at all reflected the gulf between politics in Scotland, where Salmond’s SNP has run the devolved administration since 2007, and the rest of the UK, where Cameron’s Conservatives have the support of just one Tory lawmaker from Scotland.

The situation was exacerbated by the weakening of Labour, traditionally a dominant force in Scotland. The party lost to Cameron in the 2010 election to the UK Parliament at Westminster before being trounced by the SNP in Scotland a year later. That win for the nationalists paved the way for the vote on establishing Europe’s newest sovereign state.

Edinburgh agreement

Cameron and Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement that set out the terms of the referendum in October 2012 with both promising to uphold the result.

The campaigns became increasingly heated and culminated this week in both sides appealing to the emotional side of voters. In the event, it appeared that more of the undecided respondents in opinion polls opted for the status quo.

“This was an event that cannot be captured or understood just by looking at the percentages," said Harris Mylonas, assistant professor of political science at George Washington University and author of “The Politics of Nation-Building." Bloomberg

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Published: 19 Sep 2014, 08:34 AM IST
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