British finance minister George Osborne said on Sunday that plans would be set out in the coming days to give Scotland more autonomy on tax, spending and welfare if Scots vote against independence in a historic referendum on Sept. 18.
Prime Minister David Cameron had, ironically, vetoed a third ballot option for greater devolution, betting that the stark choice of yes or no to independence would deliver a clear victory for the status quo as cautious voters turned away from an uncertain future.
That looked like a precarious calculation after a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed supporters of independence had taken their first opinion poll lead since the referendum campaign began. With less than two weeks to go before the vote, the poll put the “Yes” to independence campaign on 51 percent and the “No” camp on 49 percent, overturning a 22-point lead for the unionist position in just a month.
“You will see in the next few days a plan of action to give more powers to Scotland ... Then Scotland will have the best of both worlds. They will both avoid the risks of separation but have more control over their own destiny, which is where I think many Scots want to be,” Osborne told the BBC. “More tax-raising powers, much greater fiscal autonomy ... more control over public expenditure, more control over welfare rates and a host of other changes.”
Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, welcomed the YouGov poll as a “very significant moment” in the campaign but rejected talk of more devolved powers for Scotland.
Salmond described the plans as a “panic measure”. “This is a ridiculous position being put forward by a campaign ... in terminal trouble,” he told the BBC. “They have failed to scare the Scots, now they are trying to bribe us. That won’t work either because people have come to the realisation that we can take the future of this country into our hands.”
Source: Morung Express
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