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‘There Will Be No Going Back,’ David Cameron Tells Scotland as Independence Vote Nears
British Leaders Campaign Against Independence Vote in Scotland
(about 4 hours later)
GLASGOW — As Britain’s political leaders embarked on a last-minute foray to Scotland on Wednesday before a referendum on independence next week, Prime Minister David Cameron coupled an impassioned appeal for Scots to remain part of the United Kingdom with a warning that “there will be no going back” if they vote to leave.
EDINBURGH — Combining emotional appeals with hardheaded warnings, British political leaders swept through Scotland on Wednesday in an effort to head off the increasingly real prospect that Britain could be dismembered, with both the Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, and the opposition Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, stressing that a vote for Scottish independence would be “irreversible.”
“The United Kingdom is a precious and special country,” Mr. Cameron wrote in the The Daily Mail, the conservative newspaper. “That is what is at stake. So let no one in Scotland be in any doubt: we desperately want you to stay; we do not want this family of nations to be ripped apart.”
With opinion polls suggesting that undecided voters are breaking toward the independence camp and that the outcome could be extremely close, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Miliband and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, ripped up their schedules, abandoned normal parliamentary hostilities and rushed to Scotland to make their cases, separately but with a rare unanimity of purpose, for keeping the United Kingdom intact. Residents of Scotland vote next Thursday on whether to break their 307-year-old union with England, a move that would usher in profound constitutional, political, economic and cultural change.
At an appearance in Scotland, Mr. Cameron acknowledged that he and his Conservative Party are not popular in Scotland, which tends to tilt to the left of the British electorate. But he said the vote should not be seen merely as a way of giving the Tories a kicking, as if it were a regular parliamentary election.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Mr. Cameron said he would be “heartbroken” if Britain’s “family of nations was torn apart.” Stressing the scale of the decision being made, Mr. Cameron added that voting “yes” would be choosing to “irreversibly” separate Scotland from institutions built jointly.
“This is not a decision about the next five years,” he said. “This is a decision about the next century.”
Sitting on a stool in the spacious atrium of the headquarters of Scottish Widows, a financial services company, Mr. Cameron, whose Conservative Party is deeply unpopular in Scotland, appealed to voters here to view the decision not in political terms but in historical terms.
The politicians’ journey to Scotland — a rare display of common purpose among the main players in London — seemed intended to raise the referendum stakes significantly and to persuade undecided voters to reject independence.
In general elections, he said, voters unhappy with the Tories can give them a drubbing at the polls.
But the tone of Mr. Cameron’s words also reflected what critics of the political elite called a panicked reaction to opinion surveys showing that the Yes campaign spearheaded by the pro-independence Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, may have nudged ahead for the first time or is at least tied with the No vote.
“This is totally different decision,” he said. “This is a decision about not the next five years. It is a decision about the next century.”
Scotland already has its own Parliament and an array of powers created by the previous Labour government’s policies of devolution. But Mr. Salmond is pressing for Scottish voters, a minority within the broader United Kingdom, to endorse his call for independence as a new state when they vote on Sept. 18 — the most dramatic constitutional rearrangement in Britain since union with Scotland 307 years ago.
Addressing an audience of mostly Labour Party activists in a community center in Cumbernauld, a town north of Glasgow, Mr. Miliband said, “From the head, from the heart, from the soul,” Scots should vote no.
“As the people of Scotland put pen to ballot paper next week,” Mr. Cameron wrote, “you will be writing the U.K.'s future in indelible ink. It’s a momentous decision: there will be no going back.”
“Don’t choose an irreversible separation,” he said. “Choose to stay together.”
Apart from Mr. Cameron, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, head of the Liberal Democrats, also planned to make the journey to Scotland on Wednesday. But such are the distinctions between them that the three politicians will not appear on a single platform and planned to campaign separately.
The visits drew a mocking response from Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish government and of the pro-independence campaign, as he sought to maintain what has been widely depicted as momentum in the run-up to the vote. “No one believes their panicked pledges — it is a phony timetable for measly powers,” said Mr. Salmond, referring to promises of greater powers for Scotland within Britain, and a schedule to put them quickly into effect if Scots vote no.
“There is a lot that divides us, but there’s one thing on which we agree passionately: the United Kingdom is better together,” Mr. Cameron wrote. “At this crucial moment, we want to be listening and talking to voters about the huge choices they face. Our message to the Scottish people will be simple: ‘We want you to stay.’ ”
The day of campaigning highlighted the dilemmas facing opponents of separation, who have been accused of complacency and of running a negative campaign. Until now, Mr. Cameron has kept a relatively low profile, perhaps calculating that he is more likely to antagonize than charm Scottish voters.
Unusually, Mr. Cameron and Mr. Miliband canceled a regular appearance at Parliament in London to head north in a gesture intended to show the importance they attach to heading off a “Yes” vote.
His Conservative Party holds just one of the 59 Scottish seats in the British Parliament. As a wealthy Englishman who attended Britain’s most exclusive school, Eton College, Mr. Cameron is regarded by many Scots as out of touch. On Wednesday, Mr. Miliband declined to share a platform with the prime minister, telling reporters that he did not think doing so would help the “no” campaign.
Their journey drew a mocking response from Mr. Salmond, as he sought to maintain what has been widely depicted as momentum in his campaign in the eight days before the vote. “No one believes their panicked pledges — it is a phony timetable for measly powers,” Mr. Salmond said, referring to promises of greater powers for Scotland within the United Kingdom and a schedule to put them into effect.
“As the people of Scotland put pen to ballot paper next week,” Mr. Cameron wrote in an essay published on Wednesday in The Daily Mail, “you will be writing the U.K.'s future in indelible ink. It’s a momentous decision: There will be no going back.”
“More and more people in Scotland are waking up to the fact: Only with the powers of independence can we secure real job creating powers and ensure that our National Health Service is fully protected,” Mr. Salmond said, drawing encouragement from a newspaper advertisement signed by 100 business leaders in support of independence.
Supporters of independence say it would allow them to build a more socially inclusive nation, a message that seems to have been welcomed by many in Scotland, which tends to tilt more to the left than England does.
The Scottish leader has been quoted as saying with some derision that, if the three leaders had decided to travel by bus, he would have sent them the fare.
“More and more people in Scotland are waking up to the fact: Only with the powers of independence can we secure real job-creating powers and ensure that our National Health Service is fully protected,” Mr. Salmond said.
In his article, Mr. Cameron evoked centuries of shared history in a “group of small islands in the North Atlantic that have punched above our weight for centuries,” citing common struggles against slavery and fascism among the bonds tying Scotland to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Miliband sought to counter that argument by pointing to Mr. Salmond’s promise that he would reduce taxes on corporations. Independence would take Scots “away from social justice,” he said.
“A hundred years ago, our boys went off to war together — and they did so as comrades, united by purpose and hope for a better world,” Mr. Cameron said, referring to Britain’s participation in World War I. “As individuals and as nations, we have done extraordinary things. This is the special alchemy of the U.K. — you mix together Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland and together we smash expectations.”
But not all voters were convinced. Liz Dornan, a retired primary school principal, described Mr. Miliband’s speech as “inspiring” but said she was still undecided on how to vote.
He also repeated an offer to grant Scotland further powers related to taxes, spending and welfare if voters choose to remain in the United Kingdom. And he assailed Mr. Salmond’s campaign for what he called a lack of clarity on such critical issues as the currency to be used by an independent Scotland.
“I am always persuaded by the Labour ethos,” she said, “but I am swithering because I feel we will still end up with a Tory government.”
“So the choice for you is clear: a leap into the dark with a Yes vote, or a brighter future for Scotland by voting No,” Mr. Cameron said. “You can have the best of both worlds in the U.K. You can have more powers in Scotland. And you can be part of a United Kingdom — standing tall, forging a more secure future in this world, building more opportunities for our children and grandchildren and the generations yet to be born. That is the next chapter in our history; we can write it together — but only if Scotland votes No next week.”
The campaign to oppose independence has drawn together a remarkable coalition of former and current adversaries within the British political establishment. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Labour Party laid out a schedule earlier this week promising greater autonomy for Scotland.
John Major, a Conservative former prime minister, added his voice Wednesday in a BBC radio interview. “I am desperately concerned at what is happening,” he said. “We would be immensely weaker as a nation in every respect — morally, politically, in every material aspect — if Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were to part company.”
“This year is the 100th anniversary of the First World War. As we honor the people who fought together then, would it not be extraordinary if the S.N.P. broke up the most successful union and partnership in all history in any part of the world?” he said, using the initials of Mr. Salmond’s Scottish National Party.
