Scotland votes no to independence

[ginglee]

Theres no winner. Scotland is now split more than ever.........

Hopefully it will speak to all those who feel dis enfranchised ...scots, welsh, Irish and English ..some good could come of this.

I am optimistic..

I hope the same....I think the way forward is for all countries to have a real assembly-with taxation powers. And Westminster would be for England only. The duplication at the moment is crazy, in my area we have an assembly member in Wales, an MP in Westminster and a Euro MP- wasted funds.

[kingalfred]

Sign the epetition if you have UK address and want a house of commons debate on an English Parliament. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/68744

More politicians? You want more politicians?

EU, Houses of Parliament, House of Lords, Local Councils, quangos . . . .

oh no. No more money and end of contact with the biggest failed quango,the EU.

[MJP]

Sign the epetition if you have UK address and want a house of commons debate on an English Parliament. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/68744

More politicians? You want more politicians?

EU, Houses of Parliament, House of Lords, Local Councils, quangos . . . .

oh no. No more money and end of contact with the biggest failed quango,the EU.

Yes please. Vote for that!

[J Bradley]

Cripes! Even the Highlands voted No.

Why is that a surprise?

What surprised me was the lower than expected "yes" vote in Glasgow.

I also read somewhere that Edinburgh was expecting a "no" vote as high as 80%.

[bazmlb]

The reason the NO vote is far greater than opinion polls predicted is the intimidation that was being used by the Yes campaigners caused many to keep their intentions to themselves. This is the backfire on the bully campaigners with their graffiti, eggs, window smashing and verbal abuse. Serves you right.[/size]

I think its due to the 100,000's immigrants from the EU were allowed to vote and it may have cost them their EU privlidges if Yes won, would have been interesting to see the break down of Sscots and immigrants votes

[Jim walker]

All the threatening and coercing and intimidation of the Scots paid off for Westminster in the end.

[Rumblecat]

Yeah, it was interesting to see some the scare tactics mobilised by the media in the final run up, alongside from very selective reporting from the BBC... I was always on the fence- I recognise the problems and frustration that a lot of us feel towards the government in Westminster, but I also feel British as well as Scottish- neither campaign really covered themselves in glory- although nothing came close to the terrible housewife advert. A "no" win was always on the cards but I'd say it was made despite the campaign, rather than the because.

[darrenaustin]

Now we need Australia to have a referendum and cut the cord from mother England.

. Had tour chance in the late 90s,I'm Austalian and proud of my Queen and the Commonweath,beats having a politician as President .

[MAJIC]

Great turnout....shame about the result.

Oh well let's see what nonsense comes out of this.

A very sensible result! Nationalism was never a prize worth risking everything for!

[Aussieroaming]

Well Scotland has spoken and that's great for democracy.

Now England and Scotland need to discuss the disaffection plaguing the union and try to resolve it, so that Scotland doesn't feel compelled to repeat the referendum.

[Franky Bear]

All the threatening and coercing and intimidation of the Scots paid off for Westminster in the end.

facts dear boy...... facts.

[MAJIC]

More devolution for Scotland...

How about the same for Wales, Northern Ireland & England

Wales is already working on it,in their Parliament!

[bdenner]

Now we need Australia to have a referendum and cut the cord from mother England.

You already did and lost. And what difference would it make? You are a self governing country, the only thing this does is give you more freedom to travel within the commonwealth and more consular assistance in places Australia has no representation. Something for nothing and you still complain

Not to mention the military backing !

OFF Topic!

"military backing" WHERE? "consular assistance in places Australia has no representation" Your Embassies treat your own citizans like crap so why would they help me? -- Are both of you for real!

Edited September 19, 2014 by bdenner

[slipperylobster]

That is so sad.

Scots are wonderful people. It is a shame they have to be identified as British Subjects....of all things.

I consider the Scots a step up.

[RickyJB]

votes were rigged, demand a re count..cheating going on there..NO way, the NO vote lot won that... scandal

[Fullstop]

I was wondering if they were going to change it from "United Kingdom" to "Disbanded Kingdom" for a while there.

[inutil]

Scotland votes 'No' by 55.3 per cent: final result

EDINBURGH (AFP) - Scotland rejected independence from the United Kingdom by 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent, on a record 84.6 per cent turnout, final results showed Friday.

Official figures show 2,001,926 people voted to stay in the union and 1,617,989 voted to leave, with turnout beating the previous record for a UK vote of 84 per cent, set in the 1950 British general election.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Scotland-votes-No-by-55-3-per-cent-final-result-30243659.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-19

The reason the NO vote is far greater than opinion polls predicted is the intimidation that was being used by the Yes campaigners caused many to keep their intentions to themselves. This is the backfire on the bully campaigners with their graffiti, eggs, window smashing and verbal abuse. Serves you right.

oooooooorrrrr... polls had the yes vote at 47 and no at 53. Factor in i) margin of error plus ii) the quiet vote for the status quo as many people (including myself) remarked on (and made a bit of a big deal out of), and you have an unsurprising result that has chuff all to do with terrified scottish people incapable of making themselves heard and everything to do with standard behaviour in a referendum/election. The vote went as expected. Yes needed to be a good few percentage points above 50% consistently to even HOPE for a win. They could have pulled it off with a very late surge, but as i said 2 days ago, theyd failed to break through and had taken a beating in the final week of campaigning. So less of the nonsense and more of the actual observation of reality please.

Edited September 19, 2014 by inutil

[MJP]

Scotland votes 'No' by 55.3 per cent: final result

EDINBURGH (AFP) - Scotland rejected independence from the United Kingdom by 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent, on a record 84.6 per cent turnout, final results showed Friday.

Official figures show 2,001,926 people voted to stay in the union and 1,617,989 voted to leave, with turnout beating the previous record for a UK vote of 84 per cent, set in the 1950 British general election.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Scotland-votes-No-by-55-3-per-cent-final-result-30243659.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-19

The reason the NO vote is far greater than opinion polls predicted is the intimidation that was being used by the Yes campaigners caused many to keep their intentions to themselves. This is the backfire on the bully campaigners with their graffiti, eggs, window smashing and verbal abuse. Serves you right.

oooooooorrrrr... polls had the yes vote at 47 and no at 53. Factor in a) margin of error plus the quiet vote for the status quo as many people (including myself remarked on - there was a point in the polling when Quebec was brought up endlessly), and you have an unsurprising result that has <deleted> all to do with terrified scottish people incapable of making themselves heard. The vote went as expected. Yes needed to be a good few percentage points above 50% consistently to even HOPE for a win. They could have pulled it off with a very late surge, but as i said 2 days ago, theyd failed to break through and had taken a beating in the final week of campaigning. So less of the nonsense and more of the actual observation of reality please.

If Salmond had campaigned using a clear and concise framework for transition and what would follow, with all the numbers adding up, Yes would have won. But he didn't. He used nationalist rhetoric instead.

[ScotBkk]

With due regard of Scotts who want an independent Scotland, the United Kingdom needs to remain intact.

Global security requires it.

Democracy is under assault in SE Asia and in other parts of the world, led by Beijing and Moscow, aided and abetted by Brazil and the tag-along India which has a post war history of flirting with dictators, Marxist ones especially.

The UK's seat on the UN Security Council must continue to have its significant and substantial moral and political force behind it, to include its traditional and respected military force. The world needs the UK to continue to have its strong presence and impact at the IMF, the World Bank, the EU, Nato and the like.

The UK and the Anglosphere are the single most powerful driving force of the international order based in democracy, market economics, liberalism, human rights and much more.

While some hearts in Scotland will continue their pursuit of independence, it is very good to see the strong majority of almost all voters in Scotland declare themselves by legitimate democratic means for the preservation of the Union. Beijing and Moscow are sorely disappointed and that is very good.

On yae go mate ... Looks like I'm British again lol

[ScotBkk]

Bugger; I was hoping for a "Yes" vote so that I could watch Scotland crash and burn.

Oh, well, maybe next time.

There's always ONE and YOUR IT !!!!!

[bkk_mike]

Madness is over. This is win of common sense.

Deception based on irrational and blind nationalism has lost.

I hope forever.

Salmond's concession speech clearly showed that he is looking for another go. Really think that would be a bad move. However, Salmond is the kind of guy who doesn't know when he is beaten even though he had previously stated that this was it 'for a generation'. Don't think another divisive campaign suits any other than those who care not what mayhem they will cause.

Just hope that Westminster holds to their promises, despite the noises coming from others within the Tory heartlands.

There will def not be another referendum in the near future, all parties have agreed to that!

There are two possibilities I can see for an earlier vote.

IF the LabConLib alliance don't deliver on the promises that they used to swing it back towards No in the last two weeks, it won't be pretty for Labour or the Liberals in Scotland (I doubt the Conservative vote could drop further than it already has).

If that in turn, turns into an even bigger SNP landslide than the last one (remember the SNP got a majority in a PR electoral system for the Scottish parliament that was designed specifically to stop them getting a majority), then I could see an early vote with "the vow" was broken as the rallying cry.

The second possibility would be an EU referendum where Scotland votes to stay and England votes to leave and it drags an unwilling Scotland out with it, at which point the SNP could try for another vote to allow Scotland to stay in the EU. Leaving the EU takes two years so there would be time to squeeze in another Scottish vote if that happened.

Otherwise, you're probably right, not again in my lifetime.

But I'll admit to being gutted... On the other hand, now that the vote's over, the BBC seems to have stopped being quite as biased. Vile remarks from NO supporters to Andy Murray is the first time they've reported the No side's nastiness online. (There's been online nastiness from idiots on both sides, but it was as if there was a reporting ban previously for one side.)

Edited September 19, 2014 by bkk_mike

[tonytigerbkk]

That is so sad.

Scots are wonderful people. It is a shame they have to be identified as British Subjects....of all things.

I consider the Scots a step up.

What a crass and stupid comment.

The Scottish people voted by a majority (in a fair election) to remain as British Subjects.

It is not a case of Scots having to be identified as British subjects, it is a case of Scots wanting to be identified as British subjects.

So, take of your racist hat and explain why you think that it is a shame that the Scottish public have gotten something that they wanted.

[Grindting]

I wonder what the turn out would be if all our previous colonies had a chance to return to Britain (and become the UK)?

Would Hong Kong prefer to be with us, or the Chinese? Hong kongers I know hate the mainland Chinese and are very British-ish. Myanmar you don't even need to think about, they'd be 1000 times better off with British rule. Talk to any cab driver in Sri Lanka and they wish the British had stayed. The list keeps going. Good for Scotland, I'm happy they stayed and my Scottish friends all voted No.

[jpinx]

Scotland wins !! Now there will be more devolution and less interference from Westminster.

Salmonds job as leader of the Scottish Parliament is to roast the asses off the westminster MP's who gave those last-minute promises of much more devloution, including tax.raising powers independent of HMRC.

Scotland might not be truly independent, but it's got a brilliant chance now to get more details sorted out prior to then ext attempt. It's been about 25 years since the last one that was rigged by westminster.

[7by7]

I see that some from the Yes side are already getting their excuses in; BBC bias, scaremongering etc.

BBC bias? A few out of context pictures and comments doesn't prove such.

Scaremongering? If the Yes campaign had actually addressed the undesirable results of independence instead of merely using this word every time the No campaign raised those undesirable results; maybe the result would have been different!

Salmond and the Yes campaign have had the good grace to accept the will of the majority of the Scottish people; time some posters here did as well.

[inutil]

Scotland votes 'No' by 55.3 per cent: final result

EDINBURGH (AFP) - Scotland rejected independence from the United Kingdom by 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent, on a record 84.6 per cent turnout, final results showed Friday.

Official figures show 2,001,926 people voted to stay in the union and 1,617,989 voted to leave, with turnout beating the previous record for a UK vote of 84 per cent, set in the 1950 British general election.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Scotland-votes-No-by-55-3-per-cent-final-result-30243659.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-19

The reason the NO vote is far greater than opinion polls predicted is the intimidation that was being used by the Yes campaigners caused many to keep their intentions to themselves. This is the backfire on the bully campaigners with their graffiti, eggs, window smashing and verbal abuse. Serves you right.

oooooooorrrrr... polls had the yes vote at 47 and no at 53. Factor in a) margin of error plus the quiet vote for the status quo as many people (including myself remarked on - there was a point in the polling when Quebec was brought up endlessly), and you have an unsurprising result that has <deleted> all to do with terrified scottish people incapable of making themselves heard. The vote went as expected. Yes needed to be a good few percentage points above 50% consistently to even HOPE for a win. They could have pulled it off with a very late surge, but as i said 2 days ago, theyd failed to break through and had taken a beating in the final week of campaigning. So less of the nonsense and more of the actual observation of reality please.

If Salmond had campaigned using a clear and concise framework for transition and what would follow, with all the numbers adding up, Yes would have won. But he didn't. He used nationalist rhetoric instead.

The words "Nationalist rhetoric" here is a touch unfair. In a sense it was nationalist in that it accepted the argument categorically (and indeed defined its ENTIRE campaign around the notion) that this was a decision on whether Scotland was ready to vote yes to not only the benefits of self determination, but also own the potentially catastrophic initial results of independence. It was couched in nationalism in that it spoke of the Scottish people's enduring and collective capacity to rebuild their country and turn around the inevitable problems of independence. But nationalism in hills, glens, rob roy, shortbread and Curries Red Kola? Not so much.

Again, we've brought up the reasons as to why the White paper was just an SNP party political document long before the vote was even in. So theres no reason to retread that ground again. The scottish people knew that they werent voting for (or against) Salmond and the SNP, but rather more simply - and more seriously - self-determination. They knew that the real negotiations would only begin after an independence vote. And thats why the negativity of better together didnt resonate. They took Salmond and the SNP programme more seriously than they waranted. They fought a campaign based on strategies youd use in an election. In this case it was just about autonomy. And the only message they had was that it might be terrible. But Scotland knew this. It was GOING to be difficult. It was GOING to be arduous and serious. The consequences were right there. But it was just a simple question of whether it would be worth it for the price of Self-determination.

No. Apparently. But my money is on that intervention last week (christ! was it only last week?) having saved the No vote. The yes vote was about to surge. Gordon Brown in many ways, by pushing for devo max so hard, and offering that one positive reason gave hope to labour supporters looking at that one and only offer for change on the table and realising they didnt have to go all in. They could hedge. It saved the labour exodus to independence, and it also possibly saved the Scottish Labour Party from a rout in the Scottish Parliament Election and the General Election. Big Gordon saved the union. But he did it with the intention of ultimately transforming it. And that resonated with the wavering labour/independence voter in Scotland.

Maybe. All conjecture in the end. Maybe the sentiment for independence just never took off and never was seriously going to take off despite the indications otherwise. Perhaps in fact, the 51% was the highest possible number the YES campaign could ever hope to get considering the intransigence of the pensioners and of course the more conservative parts of Scotland. Still, im fine that no won. Not ecstatic, but i want change and reform. If im not getting it through independence then ill settle for the wholesale break up of the UK constitutionally instead

And yes mad English supporters blaming scotland for everything. Im right behind you when you start shouting about powers for England and the regions. Just know that i feel absolutely in my heart that youre going to get yours when it comes. Not from Scotland, but from the regions of England youve ignored the last 30 years. England is mad as hell. And its not at Scotland.

Oooh, ill still be voting to stay in the EU as well. For the reasons that in fact the No campaign threw towards scotland. I look forward to recycling the anti-independence lines

Edited September 19, 2014 by inutil

[rajyindee]

It'll be interesting to see the next couple of Honours Lists ... a few folk are "owed one".

[MJP]

It'll be interesting to see the next couple of Honours Lists ... a few folk are "owed one".

Andy Murray?

[rajyindee]

It'll be interesting to see the next couple of Honours Lists ... a few folk are "owed one".

Andy Murray?

Lord Murray of Dunblane? Or just, Sir Andrew?

[MJP]

It'll be interesting to see the next couple of Honours Lists ... a few folk are "owed one".

Andy Murray?

Lord Murray of Dunblane? Or just, Sir Andrew?

Oh I reckon he'll go with the Lord bit.