Glasgow: A single vote one way or the other could make the difference between Scotland ending its 307-year-old union with the rest of the United Kingdom or starting down a path as an independent nation.
On Sunday, in the working class district of Govan in the heartland of Scotland’s largest city, Shawna McFarland was doing her best to convince anyone and everyone who would listen that Scots need to vote ‘yes’ in Thursday’s referendum.
“Alex Salmond has said and it’s part of the Edinburgh Agreement that a single vote — a simple majority — is all that is needed to win or lose the referendum.”
According to opinion polls, the referendum race is incredibly tight, too close to call statistically and any leas for either side falls within the margins of error.
She is a Labour Party activist but is ignoring the advice from party leader Ed Miliband to vote ‘no’ in the independence vote.
“I think what this campaign has shown is just how out of touch the leadership of the Labour Party in London actually is,” she said. “They have abandoned the principles of social democracy and my independent Scotland will have social democratic values at its heart.”
Her father, a life-long Labour Party supporter, has vowed never to vote for the party again because of its ‘no’ line.
Ian Young, a computer repairs company owner in East Kilbride, told Gulf News that he believed there was a lot of scaremongering being inflicted on Scots ahead of Thursday’s vote, and that this would increase in the final days.
“Take the pound,” he said. “There is an actual historical precedent in our history. When the Irish Free State broke away from the rest of the United Kingdom in 1921, it continued to use the pound, and did so for years without being able to set ots own exchange rates or interest rates. When London tells Scots they can’t use the pound, they are being economical with the truth.”
But Kay McLean isn’t buying the ‘yes’ side who say that everything will be all right.
“Alex Salmond can’t be trusted. He doesn’t have answers. All he has is a lot of hot air and good feeling that everything will suddenly be OK in his new Scotland. I’m not buying that. And I think it’s a dangerous message for us. We don’t know what will happen, so the status quo is better. Besides, we can get more powers for Scotland from London by staying in.”
