Scotland has voted ‘No’ in its referendum for independence, with 55 per cent voting to stay in the United Kingdom to 45 per cent in favour of independence.
With 31 out of 32 council areas having declared, the result so far has over 1.9m ‘No’ votes versus more than 1.5m ‘Yes’ votes, from a a total of 4.29m, or 97 per cent of the electorate registered to vote.
A turnout of 86 per cent makes it one of the highest in the democratic world for any election or referendum in history, according to first minister Alec Salmond.
He conceded defeat this morning, stating: “It’s important to say that our referendum was an agreed and consented process and Scotland has by majority decided not at this stage to become an independent country.
“I accept that verdict of the people and I call on all of Scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland.”
Mr Salmond also called upon the unionist parties to honour their vows of devolving more powers to Scotland. “I’ll be speaking to the prime minister shortly after this statement but can I return thirdly to the empowerment of so many Scots entering the political process for the very first time.”
Prime minister David Cameron called it a clear result, adding that: “Like millions of other people, I am delighted.”
He paid tribute to the ‘Yes’ campaign and addressed the matter of further devolution of powers. “To those in Scotland sceptical of the constitutional promises made, let me say this we have delivered on devolution under this government, and we will do so again in the next parliament.
“The three pro-union parties have made commitments, clear commitments, on further powers for the Scottish Parliament; we will ensure that they are honoured in full.
“And I can announce today that Lord Smith of Kelvin – who so successfully led Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games – has agreed to oversee the process to take forward the devolution commitments with powers over tax, spending and welfare all agreed by November and draft legislation published by January.”
In terms of the referendum itself, Scotland’s biggest city Glasgow voted for independence (53.49 per cent in favour), along with Dundee (57.35 per cent), North Lanarkshire (51.07 per cent) and West Dunbartonshire (53.97 per cent).
All other regions voted to maintain the union, with overwhelming majorities in the Orkney Islands (67.2 per cent), Dumfries and Galloway (65.67 per cent) and the Scottish Borders (66.56 per cent).
Only the Highland region has not yet returned its vote at time of writing.
