Referendum not about ‘kicking the effing Tories’

The British prime minister has warned Scottish voters the referendum is not about giving the "effing Tories" a kick as Westminster heavyweights headed north of the border in an attempt to save the union.

Speaking in Edinburgh, David Cameron told Sky News: “We beat Hitler, we built the NHS together... in this one family of nations.”

At one point he put hand to heart and said: “I care far more about my country than I do about my party. I care hugely about this extraordinary country, this United Kingdom that we’ve built together.

“I would be heartbroken if this family of nations that we’ve put together was torn apart.”

Ed Miliband said every shoulder must be to the wheel in the final days of “the longest campaign in British political history”.

The Labour leader said the case for a No vote in the Scottish independence referendum came from the “head, heart and soul”, as he set out the “strong emotional and solidarity arguments for staying together”.

Miliband was speaking at a campaign event in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, as he and the other two major party leaders at Westminster went north of the border to join the battle to save the union.

He denied that Labour has left it too late to set out a clear message on change for Scotland within the United Kingdom.

Miliband said Labour had given assurances that further powers would be delivered to Holyrood quickly in the event of a No vote since its devolution commission had reported — a position which has been reinforced by Gordon Brown’s proposed timetable.

“I think it is important what has happened in the last few days, because let’s be frank about this, our opponents in this campaign want to somehow cast doubt on this,” Miliband said.

He added: “I know this has been a long fight and a long campaign. It has been the longest campaign in British political history, I think I would be right in saying.

“But let us keep going in these last eight days because the stakes are so incredibly high.”

Meanwhile, Scottish first minister Alex Salmond dismissed the efforts of David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg to keep Scotland in the UK.

Speaking at a pro-independence event, he described the three politicians as “Team Westminster”.

And he suggested their primary concern was keeping their own jobs.

Meanwhile, more than half of university academics and staff are likely to vote no to independence in next week’s referendum, a poll by the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine claims.