Scottish referendum conspiracy allegations include vote-rigging by MI5

More than 80,000 people demand independent inquiry

More than 80,000 people have demanded an independent inquiry into the Scottish independence result, claiming it was rigged by the establishment.

The petition, started on change.org by a Rosyth woman, alleges that “countless evidences [sic]” have come to light since Thursday’s vote of “clear-cut fraud”.

“We demand a revote be taken of said referendum, where each vote shall be counted by two individuals, one of whom should be an international impartial party without a stake in the vote,” it says

So far, radio stations in Scotland have heard dozens of conspiracy theorists claim that the 2.1 million to 1.6 million result was rigged by a host of bodies, including MI5.

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The setting off of fire-alarms at the count centre in Dundee – the Yes campaign’s stronghold – has attracted particular suspicions, even though live cameras and police were trained on the boxes during the alarms.

The Yes campaign intervened to dampen down suspicions, saying that video posted online misleadingly gave the impression that No votes had been stacked in Yes bundles.

In Glasgow, police were investigating several allegations of electoral fraud at polling various stations when the city’s council alerted them to 10 suspected cases of voters impersonating people they were not.

Both campaigns were entitled to have dozens of observers at count centres and no significant issues were raised.

Leading conspiracy theorist David Icke supported the charges that the referendum had been fixed, saying the No vote had managed to get more support than had been predicted.

Former SNP deputy leader Margo MacDonald wrote to the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, seeking a guarantee that its spies "would not interfere" in the referendum.

“Margot [sic] MacDonald is now dead”, the conspiracy theorist declared.

Voters in Scotland need only their voting card when they turn up at polling stations, since identity checks are not carried out by election staff.

Mark Hennessy

Mark Hennessy

Mark Hennessy is Ireland and Britain Editor with The Irish Times