Rebecca Craig is one of the 4.2 million registered voters who will decide Scotland’s fate in tomorrow’s independence referendum.

From Kilmarnock, she is one of thousands of 16 and 17-year-olds who were given the right to have a say in their country’s future.

An activist with the pro-independence campaign championed by the Scottish National Party, she hopes the referendum will deliver a Yes majority.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to change our country for the better.” She believes a Yes vote will enable the Scottish people to use the finances derived from the country’s industry and natural resources to create a more prosperous State and deliver “a brighter future for the people of Scotland”.

It’s a great opportunity to change our country for the better

Her view is shared by Andrew Galea, 26, who lives in Glasgow and works in a bar. Born to a Maltese father and Scottish mother, Mr Galea says he did not hold much hope for a Yes victory until recently.

For months, polls consistently had the No vote ahead, but at the start of the month one poll put the pro-independence movement in front for the first time.

The shock result created panic in London and the leaders of the three main political parties joined the campaign trail in their bid to save the United Kingdom.

Mr Galea has noticed a considerable change in mood as people warm to the idea of independence.

“I believe independence will mean real democracy for Scotland… it will give us the opportunity to have a fresh start at how politics is done,” he says.

He reflects the message of the Yes campaign that argues a pro-independence vote will deliver a better and fairer Scotland.

“The old shell that is the UK has failed and the opportunity for a new government that we Scots can relate to and feel better represented by is not one many will pass up,” Mr Galea says. But as he crosses his finger for tomorrow’s vote, the ramifications of a Scottish Yes may reverberate beyond the British Isles.

Many in Europe will follow the referendum results with bated breath. If Scotland chooses to go its way, the nationalists have argued Scotland could negotiate the terms of EU membership from within without the need to re-apply. However, this legal argument was shot down by the former European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso last year, insisting Scotland would have to be treated like any other country wanting to join.

Peter Xuereb, head of the European and Comparative Law Department at University of Malta, believes EU treaties do not provide for automatic succession to membership status of a territory within the EU that becomes a recognised sovereign state. “My reading of the situation is that Scotland will be perfectly eligible to join the EU but it would have to apply and negotiations held as happens with any new member state,” Prof. Xuereb says.

He acknowledges the situation will lead the EU through uncharted waters because there has never been a case of a sovereign State being born out of a member State.

But he believes it will be difficult for the EU to stop or indefinitely postpone Scotland’s membership.

“There are no legal, social, economic and political problems given that Scotland has been part of the EU for 40 years as part of the UK,” he says.

There are political considerations though that will be taken into account, he says, not least because of the secessionist ambitions in other European regions like Catalonia and the Basque territory in Spain.

“Scotland’s independence and eventual EU membership could create a breakaway syndrome across other regions and I don’t think there is a mood for that in Europe.”

Cash pledge

Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding yesterday, granting Scots greater control over healthcare spending.

With polls showing the decision on the fate of the UK too close to call, welfare spending and the future of the National Health System have formed a central part of nationalist Alex Salmond’s case for secession.

In a deal brokered by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the leaders of Britain’s three main political parties said they would retain the funding equation that sustains a higher level of public spending north of the border.

“People want to see change,” said the agreement, published in Scotland’s Daily Record and signed by Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. “A No vote will deliver faster, safer and better change than separation.”

Cameron, whose job is on the line if Scots vote to leave, warned on his last visit to Scotland there would be no going back and that any separation could be painful.

British leaders accept that even if Scotland votes to keep the 307-year union, the UK’s structure will have to change as the rush to grant so many powers to Scotland will provoke calls for a less centralised state from voters in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Some English lawmakers in Cameron’s own party have already asked for England to be given more powers. (Reuters)