British Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond are set to approve on Monday plans for a referendum on Scottish independence, triggering two years of campaigning over the future of the 300-year-old union.
Cameron, who strongly opposes the breakup of Britain, is to meet Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Salmond in Edinburgh after ministers said they had reached agreement on terms for the vote.
London is expected to give Scotland’s administration the power to conduct the historic referendum in the autumn of 2014, offering Scots a straight yes-no question on leaving the United Kingdom.
The British minister responsible for Scotland, Michael Moore, said Sunday the agreement would be “the green light for the most important decision people in Scotland will ever have to make”.
He hammered out the terms with deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who along with the rest of Salmond’s Scottish National Party — which governs in the devolved Edinburgh parliament — will be campaigning for a “yes” vote.
Opposing the Scottish breakaway will be Cameron’s Conservatives and their coalition partners in the British parliament, the Liberal Democrats, as well as the opposition Labour party.
Cameron told his party’s conference last week that Britain should build on its spirit of unity from the summer’s London Olympics.
“Whether our athletes were Scottish, Welsh, English or from Northern Ireland, they draped themselves in one flag,” he said.
“There was, of course, one person who didn’t like that. He’s called Alex Salmond. I’m going to go and see him on Monday to sort out that referendum on independence by the end of 2014.
“There are many things I want this coalition government to do but what could be more important than saving our United Kingdom?”
Salmond’s campaign has celebrity backing from James Bond star Sean Connery, but only a minority of Scots appear to want independence, with a survey released on 8 October by pollsters TNS-BMRB showing 28 percent in favour.
Salmond said in May he was seeking independence “not because I think we are better than any other country, but because I know that we are as good as any other country”.
Scottish Nationalists had favoured the 2014 date, giving them time to try to win over voters and also coinciding with the anniversary of the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn — a famous Scots victory over the English.
The vote is expected to break new ground by including 16 and 17-year-olds, a move favoured by Salmond’s side, but in a concession to the British government will not offer a third option of increased devolution.
Salmond, who has pushed for a referendum since his party won a majority in the Scottish parliament in May 2011, says Scotland’s population five million should be able to run its own foreign, economic and defence policies.
The devolved Scottish government currently has powers over some policy areas such as health and education, as well as a separate legal system, but powers over defence, energy and foreign affairs remain with the British government.
A potential separation raises questions about what would happen to revenues from North Sea oil reserves.
Salmond is seeking to retain the sterling currency and the British monarch as head of state, and wants Scotland to stay in the European Union, but his party opposes Britain’s nuclear deterrent, which is housed in Scotland.
UK, Scottish leaders set for deal on independence vote
