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Scotland Hears Last-Minute Appeals on Independence Vote Scotland Hears Last-Minute Appeals on Independence Vote
(about 9 hours later)
DUNDEE, Scotland — With Scotland just one day away from voting on independence, a fractious campaign was drawing to a close Wednesday with controversy over its potential effect on the economy, public services and defense amid last-minute appeals from both sides. DUNDEE, Scotland — At the main office of the campaign for independence here, Jimmy Black, a local councilor for the Scottish National Party, described how supporters had distributed about 150,000 leaflets in the last three months, created websites and a half-dozen Facebook accounts, and handed out thousands of Scottish flags, or saltires.
Opinion polls predict a close result and, whatever the outcome, the vote on Thursday is almost certain to provoke a major change in the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the nation, with the main British parties promising more powers of self-government to Scots even if they reject secession. Some 7,000 new voters have been registered in the city, said Stewart Hosie, a lawmaker in the British Parliament for the Scottish National Party. And on Thursday, he said, volunteers will be out to drive yes voters to the polling station and urge people to vote.
In a letter to the British tabloid The Sun, 14 former chiefs of the British armed forces urged voters to reject independence, arguing that such an outcome was “critical for all our security” and that breaking up Britain would “weaken us all." The scene was quite different at the headquarters of the no campaign in the city center: It closed Tuesday at 5 p.m., and on Wednesday, the day before Scots are to go to the polls and cast their votes, just two people were in the headquarters.
First Minister Alex Salmond of Scotland, who is leading the push for secession and whose party wants to remove nuclear weapons from Scotland within four years of independence, accused the former military commanders of using defense for “political purposes.” Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Salmond pointed to the service members' support for breaking away from the United Kingdom, including that of a 102-year-old World War II veteran. From the outset of this effort to obtain independence for Scotland, supporters have run a lively, enthusiastic, colorful campaign, reflected recently in polls that showed the referendum on independence from the United Kingdom too close to call.
Mr. Salmond and the leader of the campaign against independence, Alistair Darling, a former chancellor of the Exchequer from the Labour Party, spent the day trying to woo the many undecided voters who are likely to determine the outcome. Activists across Scotland, on both sides of the referendum, were preparing on Wednesday to make a final, full-fledged effort to energize their voters with last-minute emails and tweets, and to make sure that their supporters got to the polls.
Mr. Darling condemned demonstrations outside the office of the BBC in Scotland by some supporters of the “yes” campaign who accused it of bias, a charge the BBC rejects. Mr. Darling said some people had found the protests “frightening.” He scheduled a rally later in the day with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a fellow Labourite who has emerged as an important figure in the “no” campaign in recent weeks. For the no camp, a prime target is the so-called “shy voter” — those who have preferred to keep their heads down in an increasingly acrimonious campaign. This group remains a crucial swing vote, largely reflected in polls as “undecideds.”
Economic issues have been dominant in the campaign, and there have been warnings from some Scottish banks and businesses of a negative impact from a “yes” vote. These have been dismissed as scaremongering by Mr. Salmond and his supporters. But evidence of the passion that the yes campaign has evoked among Scots was everywhere on Wednesday.
The two sides disagree over fundamental issues such as whether an independent Scotland would be able to use the pound as its currency. The three main British political parties have ruled out a currency union, leaving the less palatable option of using the pound in the same way that Panama, for example, uses the dollar. But “yes” campaigners say they are bluffing and will change their tune if Scots vote in favor of breaking away. In Dundee, yes campaign leaflets and posters abound, and, thanks to its tradition of working class activism and a strong local organization from the pro-independence Scottish National Party, it appears to be holding up its reputation as Scotland’s “yes city.”
Mr. Salmond has targeted wavering center-left voters, arguing that a vote for independence would protect from privatization the popular National Health Service, which offers free health care to all. The “no” campaign argues that health in Scotland is already controlled by the Scottish Parliament and is therefore protected unless Scots themselves want change. The boss of a transport company, Bob Costello, said he had stepped back from his business for the last two months, providing one of his 17 buses to the pro-independence campaign and spending much of his time handing out leaflets from a stall in Dundee’s main square.
In any event, Mr. Salmond has appealed to many voters by arguing that Scotland could pursue more social democratic policies if independent, rather than as part of Britain. Scots have tended to tilt to the left of the English in recent years, and the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, is not popular here. Mr. Costello said he believed that Scotland’s oil wealth had been “misused” by politicians in London and looked back with resentment to his school days when, he said, Scots like him “thought we had to aspire to anything English.”
Mr. Salmond described the referendum as one of Western Europe’s “most extraordinary” political campaigns, one that had prompted thousands of people to register to vote for the first time. In an open letter to Scots, he described the independence vote as “the greatest, most empowering moment any of us will ever have.” Near the main square, Tony Cox, was campaigning for a small, left-wing pro-independence group called Stobbie for Aye — Stobbie being an abbreviation for Stobswell, a down-at-the-heel district of Dundee, and aye the Scottish term for yes. He said his group had persuaded around 1,000 voters to register for the first time, mainly people “left behind” by economic policies, and the enthusiasm was so strong that he said he “had junkies chasing me down the street to get registered.” His group also distributes official campaign leaflets in Polish for immigrant voters emblazoned with the word “Tak” – Polish for yes.
Outside Dundee things are different. Menzies Campbell, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats and an opponent of independence, said on Wednesday that his side had “a lot of support under the radar.” Speaking in Cupar, a town about 25 miles to the south of Dundee, he said the reaction he had received suggested that “a majority in favor of staying in the union.”
Campaigning alongside him, Alistair Carmichael, also a Liberal Democrat and Secretary of State for Scotland, argued that yes campaigners are “in your face and no supporters tend to be less vocal.”
Getting people to display no posters has been hard. For example, Ciaran Folan, a retired broadcast engineer originally from Ireland, is an opponent of independence. But he does not have a no poster in his window because, he said, “some of the people on the other side are very aggressive.” He said, however, that he was “embarrassed” at how effective the yes campaign has been.
Nevertheless the Liberal Democrats expect between 300 and 400 supporters to help get voters out on Thursday in North East Fife.
In Morningside, an affluent area of Edinburgh, the yes office was busy on Wednesday offering literature, posters, flags and buttons, some of which were for sale.
“Some people come and give us the third degree, but I think we’ve got most of the answers,” said Ian Hay, 75, one of the managers.
As preparations for polling day were finalized, Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, was due to address supporters in Perth. “This has been the greatest campaign in Scottish history — and you the greatest campaigners,” Mr. Salmond was to tell supporters, according to draft excerpts from his speech.
“To our friends in the rest of the United Kingdom, I say this,” read the draft. “We don’t seek division, but rather equality. A new, better and harmonious relationship founded on our enduring bonds of family and culture.”
In Glasgow, a crucial battleground city, the two campaigns held rival rallies. “The people of Scotland will not be fooled,” said Dennis Canavan, chairman of Yes Scotland, to a cheering crowd of supporters. “There is only one guarantee of getting more powers for the Scottish Parliament and that is by voting yes.”
A few blocks away, the anti-independence Better Together camp held a “Love Scotland, Vote No” event, featuring placards with large red hearts. “If you have such a momentous decision to make, you need to have certainty,” said the leader of the no campaign, Alistair Darling said. “For anyone in Scotland who has any doubt, be in no doubt — you have to say no,” he added.
Mr. Carmichael appeared to concede defeat over the contrasting quality of campaigns. But he said, “Campaign organization can only take you so far. It’s the equivalent of the marketing department in a business — it will only be successful if the product is sound.”