Nicola Sturgeon has launched her bid to become the new leader of the SNP and Scotland’s first female first minister with an immediate warning that the Westminster parties will face an angry backlash if they fail to keep the promises they made on more powers for Holyrood.

Scotland will remain part of the UK after the independence referendum, pollster YouGov has predicted, as it forecast the ‘No’ campaign would win the crucial vote.

British chancellor George Osborne has ruled out a public offering of the UK government’s remaining shares in Lloyds Banking Group ahead of the general election next year.

The independence referendum will attract the biggest turnout in Scotland’s history next month and draw people who have never voted before and do not feature in opinion polls, Alex Salmond has predicted.

If the cringeworthy uniform to be worn by Scots competitors at the Commonwealth Games is an example of Scottish decision making, it will do much to swell the "No" vote in the Independence referendum.

A two-day EU summit begins in Brussels tomorrow and the stage is set for a fraught, divisive meeting of the 28 national leaders. British Prime Minister David Cameron’s trenchant opposition to the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission, despite his endorsement by Germany, is the issue.

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien should stay away from Scotland for the good of the Catholic Church, according to his successor.

INTERNATIONAL observers gave south Sudan’s independence referendum their seal of approval yesterday and said a vote for secession was now “virtually certain” in their first official judgment on the poll.