One year on


Second, the referendum result was decisive, there is no question about that. But the scale of the Yes vote, at 45 per cent, was far stronger than the No side had anticipated at the start of the campaign, and certainly strong enough to sustain the cause of independence for the future.


It has oſten been said that support for an independent Scotland went up during the campaign from about 30 per cent in the polls to the 45 per cent result. But even that tends to underestimate the strengthened backing for independence. There is a world of difference between agreeing with independence in an opinion poll, which of itself can achieve nothing, and actually voting for it in a referendum amid the welter of claim and counter claim and large dose of negative campaigning about what it would mean.


Many people were intellectually persuaded of the case for


Te scale of the Yes vote, at 45 per cent, was far stronger than the No side had anticipated at the start of the campaign, and certainly strong enough to sustain the cause of independence for the future.


independence for the democratic reason that it is wrong for Scotland regularly to get Tory governments when the Scotish electorate continually and overwhelmingly reject the Tories. However, many such people voted No last September on a narrow balance of opinion, with a key factor that they looked forward to Labour winning the General Election, due to take place a litle over six months aſter the referendum.


Unfortunately, the reality is that there is a now a majority Tory government at Westminster, with just a single MP in Scotland, and their lowest Scotish share of the vote since 1865.


September 2015 17


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