Scottish voters reject independence

Scottish voters decided they were Better Together with the rest of the United Kingdom and said no in an emotionally charged referendum to make Scotland an independent nation, a decision that prevented the rupture of a 307-year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to the British political establishment. Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent Thursday against independence in a poll that saw an unprecedented turnout.

"We have chosen unity over division," Alistair Darling, head of the no campaign, said early Friday in Glasgow. "Today is a momentous day for Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole."

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the independence campaign, cast his vote near his home in the northeast. His was a long-held dream of leading his country to independence. On Friday morning he conceded defeat and demanded the British government rapidly meet its promises of more powers for Edinburgh. He later announced his intention to stand down as Scottish National Party (SNP) leader at the party’s annual conference in November and then as first minister after the SNP elects a new head.

"It has been the privilege of my life to serve Scotland as first minister. But as I said often during the referendum campaign this is not about me or the SNP. It is much more important than that," Salmond said. 

After the polls closed and the vote counting began, there was a quiet thrill of history in the making on the fog-shrouded streets of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. Many Scots stayed up all night in homes and bars to watch the results.

The first results that trickled in early Friday brought cheer to the anti-independence Better Together camp, giving the no effort 56 percent of the vote in places like central Clackmannanshire, the remote Orkney Islands, Shetland and the Western Isles, which had been considered yes strongholds.

Those areas all have small populations, however, and it wasn't until Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Scotland's oil capital, voted against independence that the yes camp, which triumphed in Glasgow, began to flag. Saying she was "personally bitterly disappointed" with the results, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister of the Scottish National Party, told BBC that Scottish nationalists "need to pick ourselves up and move on."

While moving on may take some time, the result had an immediate affect on the market. The pound hit a two-year high against the euro and a two-week high against the U.S. dollar as markets shrugged off recent anxiety about a possible vote for independence. In early Asian trading, the pound jumped nearly 0.8 percent, to $1.6525, against the U.S. dollar before falling back slightly. Britain's main stock index also opened higher.

Eager voters on Thursday lined up outside some polling stations before they opened at 7 a.m. Many stations were busy, and turnout was expected to be high. More than 4.2 million people had registered to vote — 97 percent of those eligible — including residents as young as 16.

The question posed on the ballot paper simply read, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Yet it divided Scots during months of campaigning, with opinion polls suggesting the result could be too close to call.

Leaders of Britain's three main parties, shocked by the strong showing of the independence campaign in recent weeks, scrambled to offer Scots more devolved powers if they remained part of the U.K. "Scotland will expect these to be honored in rapid course," Salmond said.

A much-relieved British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking outside his official London residence on Downing Street, said the question of Scottish independence had been settled for a generation.

"There can be no disputes, no reruns. We have heard the settled will of the Scottish people," he said.

Cameron promised to live up to earlier promises to give Scotland new powers on taxes, spending and welfare. He said the new plans would be agreed on by November, with draft legislation by January.

"Just as the people of Scotland will have more power over their affairs, so it follows that the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland must have a bigger say over theirs," Cameron said. "The rights of these voters need to be respected, preserved and enhanced as well."

Queen Elizabeth II, who is at her Scottish castle in Balmoral, is expected to make a rare comment on Friday.

Salmond argued that Scots could go it alone because of its extensive oil reserves and high levels of ingenuity and education. He said Scotland would flourish on its own, free of interference from a London-based government.

Many saw it as a heads-versus-hearts campaign, with cautious older Scots concluding that independence would be too risky financially, while younger ones were enamored of the idea of building their own country.

The result saves Cameron from a historic defeat and helps opposition chief Ed Miliband by keeping his many Labour Party lawmakers in Scotland in place. His party would have found it harder to win a national election in 2015 without support from Scotland.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot, returned to prominence with a dramatic barnstorming campaign in support of the union in the final days before the referendum vote. Brown argued passionately that Scots could be devoted to Scotland but still proud of their place in the U.K., rejecting the argument that independence was the patriotic choice.

"There is not a cemetery in Europe that does not have Scots, English, Welsh and Irish lined side by side," Brown said in his final speech before the vote. "We not only won these wars together, we built the peace together. What we have built together by sacrificing and sharing, let no narrow nationalism split asunder."

For his part, Cameron — aware that his Conservative Party is widely loathed in Scotland — begged voters not to use a vote for independence as a way to bash his party.

The vote against independence keeps the U.K. from losing a substantial part of its territory and oil reserves and prevents it from having to find a new base for its nuclear arsenal, now housed in Scotland. London faced a possible loss of influence in international institutions, including the 28-nation European Union and the United Nations.

The decision also means Britain can avoid a prolonged period of financial insecurity, which some had predicted if Scotland broke away.

Al Jazeera and wire services. Julie MacDonald contributed to this report from Edinburgh