Scotland is on the “cusp of making history” by voting for independence in a week’s time, its First Minister said yesterday.
Alex Salmond said the eyes of the world are on Scotland, as he addressed an audience of international journalists in Edinburgh exactly 17 years since the country voted Yes to devolution.
Vowing that Scots “will vote Yes” in seven days’ time, he attacked the No camp for being in “terminal decline” the day after the leaders of three main UK parties travelled north of the border in a bid to save the union.
Salmond said: “Scotland is on the cusp of making history. The eyes of the world are upon Scotland. And what the world is seeing is an articulate, peaceful, energised debate.
“Scotland will vote Yes next Thursday and they will vote Yes because last-minute, cobbled up promises from the No campaign which unravel at the slightest scrutiny will not fool anyone in this country and neither will the blatant bullying and intimidation of the Westminster government.
“The No campaign is in terminal decline. In contrast, a Yes vote is the opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity to build a fairer more prosperous country.”
The latest Survation poll for the Daily Record puts support for the union at 53 per cent and backing for independence on 47 per cent, when undecided voters are excluded.
Mr Salmond said a Yes vote was not the end of something but “the beginning of something special” and the start of a “new chapter” for Scotland on the world stage.
The past two weeks of campaigning had been “the most momentous in Scottish political history”, he added.
Downing Street said “others will want to try and make judgements” on whether Cameron’s trip north to campaign against independence had been a success.
At a Better Together rally in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown said: “I think Mr Salmond has to face facts now. You can dismiss some of the warnings some of the time but you can’t dismiss all of the warnings all of the time.
“We’ve got John Lewis worried about price rises in the shops, we’ve got the oil companies saying investment would be cut and jobs lost, we’ve got the banks and financial institutions saying they may have to relocate which means that there are further jobs lost.
“We’ve got worries about the fiscal gap which is £6 billion and cannot be filled.
“I think people are now coming to the view that our proposals for change within the UK is a far safer, far better, far friendlier, far faster option to be delivered and one that commands far greater support in the Scottish population and one that can unite Scotland rather than divide it.”