Scottish referendum: 4.2 million Scottish people voting to decide their independence from United Kingdom
Monitoring Desk: Scottish Independence referendum is taking place today to decide whether people of Scotland want to stay in the 307-year-union with the rest of the UK or become independent.
According to RT Russia, the turnout is expected to be massive. As many as 4,285,323 people have registered to vote by the September 2 deadline. The referendum is outcome of an agreement between the Scottish and the United Kingdom governments that is called “the Scottish independence Referendum Bill”. The bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 14 November 2013 and received Royal Assent on 17 December 2013.
The referendum question, as recommended by the Electoral Commission is “Should Scotland be an independent country?” – voters can answer only Yes or No.
“The Scottish referendum is a story about a generation that displays little instinctive faith in the status quo.Scotland’s referendum isn’t about nationalism. It’s about a system that failed, and a new generation looking to take a chance on itself, reports Jack Shenker in his article.
Supporter of an Independent Scotland have been running a charged campaign and one can see participants of all ages—as older as 80 year and as young as 8 year. People above the age of 16 year can poll their votes.
There are noisy crowds with drums and megaphones, impromptu dancing, and trestle tables stacked with political literature.
“The Scottish referendum is a story about a generation that displays little instinctive faith in the status quo”, said Jack Shenker.
Three new polls, one by Opinium for the Daily Telegraph, another by ICM for the Scotsman, and a third by Survation for the Daily Mail, were published on Tuesday evening. With undecided voters excluded, they all suggested a lead for ‘No’ of 52 percent to 48 percent in favor of independence.
Alistair Darling, the head of the ‘No’ campaign, told the BBC that Scots should have “no doubt you can have stronger powers to raise the money you need and it doesn’t matter what’s happening in the rest of the UK.”
“I think people are clear that the three non-nationalist parties are promising more powers in relation to tax and in relation to welfare on top of more powers that have already been promised,” he said. “I believe you can get a better, stronger Scotland within the UK. We’ve all built the UK together and benefited from pooling resources in good times and bad.”
Alex Salmond, the head of the ‘Yes’ campaign, told the BBC. “The central mistake that the ‘No’ campaign has made is to tell the people of Scotland that the land of Adam Smith is not capable of running its own matter financially.”
He dismissed the new deal offered by Westminster to grant Scotland greater powers as “the same package that was offered last spring and was repacked in desperation.”
On the final day of campaigning, in a letter to the people of Scotland, Salmond wrote, “The talking is nearly done. The campaigns will have had their say. What’s left is just us – the people who live and work here. The only people with a vote. The people who matter.”
“British mainstream media is tilted towards saving Great Briton and running stories with a slant indicating that Yes campaigners are abusive and opinion polls are slighting coming up in favour of a joint UK”, blame Scottish youth on social media.
The Guardian used a harsh language against Scottish while reporting an incident that took place with Miliband at the St James shopping centre in central Edinburgh, calling him a liar and a serial murderer, prompting the politician to say: “I think we have seen in parts of this campaign an ugly side to it from the yes campaign.”
According to Guardian, the verbal abuse and chants aimed at Miliband are the latest in a series of incidents where senior Scottish Labour figures campaigning for a no vote, including Jim Murphy and Gordon Brown, have been targeted by pro-independence protesters.
In one snatched interview during the melee, Miliband said he was in Edinburgh to argue for “more powers for a stronger Scotland.
Two polls last night suggested the no campaign is narrowly ahead. An Opinium/ Daily Telegraph poll showed that the No side is ahead with support among 52% of those polled. Just under half (48%) support independence. The figures apply among those who are certain to vote. If the figure includes those who have not decided how to vote, the no side is still ahead – by 49% to 45%. But the poll shows that the yes side have made up ground since the weekend when they were behind by six points in the last Opinium poll.
A referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country will take place on Thursday, 18 September 2014.
