Scottish Independence Referendum 2014
“Should Scotland be an independent country?” is the referendum question that the Scottish people will ask themselves and answer with a simple Yes or No on Thursday 18 September 2014. This was my second trip to Scotland for Dagens Nyheter, together with London correspondent Pia Gripenberg we visited Edinburgh, Glasgow & Aberdeen on a 4 day trip.
In Edinburgh we met Graham at Cuckoo’s Bakery where in their Tea room they sell referendum cupcakes ‘Yes’ ‘No’ or ‘Undecided’. They run their own poll based on how many cupcakes are sold, their latest fortnightly polling results are posted on their Facebook page.
In Glasgow we met up with 2 pairs of teenagers who talked about their thoughts, hopes & wishes for Scotland, to keep a good balance each pair had a ‘Yes’ & ‘No’ voter – this was an important story as sixteen and 17 year olds have never been able to take part in a national election before.
Leaving Glasgow for Aberdeen we visited and spoke with activists at the 32 year old Faslane Peace Camp that lies close to Faslane Naval base, home for the UK’s nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles. In Aberdeen we spoke with the RMT union about North Sea oil and the financial and social effects of a ‘Yes’ to independence – another important story as nearly all of the United Kingdom’s North Sea oil fields are located in Scottish territorial waters.
Compared with my trip in June it was now very noticeable that both the ‘Yes’ & ‘No’ sides had stepped up their campaigns. Three months ago you would hardly see any evidence that there was to be a referendum, now you could see people wearing campaign t-shirts & badges, stickers in house windows and cars could be seen and driving around the countryside you could see that farmers had put up large signs in their fields.
Polling experts believe the Scottish independence referendum is too close to call “It’s going to go down to the wire” say the BBC.
2 Months before the Referendum.
2 Weeks before the Referendum.
2 Days before the Referendum.
The Day of the Referendum.
