Polls show pro-Scottish independence gains

EDINBURGH 

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With both campaigns in the Scottish referendum making their final pitches to voters the day before voting begins, the latest poll shows the “No” campaign in the lead, but “Yes” gaining.

Chief executive of the “Yes” to independence movement Blair Jenkins welcomed the poll - released late Tuesday, and showing the “No” campaign ahead with 52 percent but “Yes” picking up three points to 48 - and said it was “hugely encouraging.” 

In a passionate letter addressed to "every person in the country," her leader First Minister Alex Salmond said Thursday that voters would “for a few precious hours during polling day hold sovereignty, power, authority in their hands."

“It’s the greatest, most empowering moment any of us will ever have. Scotland’s future – our country in our hands.”

He said the vote was not about political parties, “It’s about you. Your family. Your hopes. Your ambitions... Don’t let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don’t let them tell us we can’t”.

“Let’s do this,” he underlined.

Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party - for long, the dominant political force in the country - was forced to abandon a walk-about in Edinburgh Tuesday when “Yes” supporters heckled him.

“Vote Yes,” and “You’re a liar,” they chanted, Miliband struggling to engage as both "Yes" and "No" campaigns fought to be heard over each others' chants.

Miliband told reporters "If people vote 'No', it's for change and more powers for a stronger Scotland, as well as NHS funding guarantees."

"That's got to be weighed against the big risks of voting 'Yes'."

With opinion polls suggesting a result that is still too close to call, first time voters have become a major factor, the country's 16-year-olds able to participate in an election for the first time.

"Yes" supporter Eloise Reinhardt, 16, told the Anadolu Agency that this was a “once in a generation, lifetime chance.”

“It’s too big of an opportunity to say 'No' to,” she said, highlighting the discrepancy that exists between university funding in Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

"I want to make sure education stays free,” she said.

University students do not pay tuition fees in Scotland, while in England and Wales fees are around 9,000 pounds-a-year.

Max Merrill, however, is a proud 16-year-old “No” voter.

“As part of the United Kingdom we’ve created amazing things, and it would be a shame to throw it away,” he said.

16-year-old Raabiah Siddique told AA she has yet to make up her mind.

"It’s confusing a lot of the time… I was a ‘No’ voter at the start of the referendum and I’ve gradually moved,” she said, adding that she was now leaning towards voting yes due to what she termed the "Yes" campaign's scaremongering.

Salmond has called for an inquiry into warnings from the International Monetary Fund, banks and retailers about the financial implications of independence - some of which have threatened to move South of the border if Scotland goes it alone - accusing the British treasury of leaking market sensitive material to media.

The referendum threatens a union that has lasted for 307 years. If the "yes" vote is successful, Scotland is not expected to entirely leave the UK until 2016, the Scottish National Party proposing March 26, 2016 as its Independence Day.


www.aa.com.tr/en