United Kingdom holds breath on divided Scotland

On the eve of Scotland’s independence referendum, the fate of the United Kingdom rests on hundreds of thousands of wavering Scottish voters, as opinion polls showed supporters of the 307-year union just a whisker ahead of secessionists.

In an intense final day of campaigning, leaders of both sides beseeched Scots to seize the reins of history in a vote that has divided families, friends and lovers but also electrified this country of 5.3 million.

From the remote Scottish islands of the Atlantic to the toughest city estates of Glasgow, voters will be asked today to answer Yes or No to the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”.

Four surveys — from pollsters Panelbase, Survation, Opinium and ICM — showed support for independence at 48% compared with 52% for the union, while a fifth, from Ipsos MORI, showed it even closer on 49% to 51%.

The surveys also showed as many as 600,000 voters remained undecided ahead of the opening of polling stations at 6am today.

“Don’t let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don’t let them tell us we can’t.

“Let’s do this,” Alex Salmond, Scotland’s 59-year-old nationalist leader, said in an open letter to voters as he crisscrossed Scotland.

Invoking 18th-century economist, Adam Smith and Scotland’s most famous poet Robert Burns, Salmond implored Scots: “Wake up on Friday morning to the first day of a better country.” With a mix of shrewd calculation and nationalist passion, Salmond has hauled the ‘Yes’ campaign from far behind to within a few percentage points of winning his dream of an independent Scotland.

Facing the biggest internal threat to the United Kingdom since Ireland broke away nearly a century ago, Britain’s establishment — from Prime Minister David Cameron to corporate bigwigs and pop-culture celebrities — have united in a last-ditch effort to convince Scots that the United Kingdom is ‘Better Together’. Cameron’s job could be on the line if Scotland breaks away, but the 47-year-old prime minister has conceded that his privileged English background and Conservative politics mean he isn’t the best person to win over Scots.

That has left the leadership of the unionist case in the hands of the opposition Labour party, winner of 41 Scottish seats in the 2010 British election and the only party with the local support capable of checking the secessionist Scottish National Party.

Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, a Scot who has in recent days led the battle-cry for the union, warned Scots in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city and a crucial battleground, that Salmond was “leading us into a trap”.

“Have confidence, stand up and be counted tomorrow,” Brown thundered, fists clenched, to applause and cheers from unionist supporters.

“Say to your friends, for reasons of solidarity, sharing, pride in Scotland — the only answer is vote ‘No’.”

— Reuters