British prime minister David Cameron today appealed to the Scots to reject independence with an offer to devolve more power to Edinburgh.
Scotland's nationalist regional government, which already controls some areas of spending, wants to hold a referendum in late 2014 on full independence that could spell an end to a 300-year-old union with England.
Mr Cameron took his case for keeping the United Kingdom intact to Scotland's capital, arguing in a speech laced with sentimental historical references that Scotland was better off as part of the union.
"The union helps to make Scotland stronger, safer, richer and fairer," he told a business audience, speaking against the backdrop of Edinburgh castle. "Of course, Scotland could govern itself. So could England, but we do it so much better together," he said.
He warned Scotland would face an uncertain economic future alone. "There is for some smaller nations the risk that independence can actually lead to greater dependence," he said.
Mr Cameron later began talks with Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), to work out differences over the timing and content of the referendum Mr Salmond wants to hold on independence.
In his speech, Mr Cameron dangled the carrot that, if Scots rejected full independence, he would be open to looking at what further powers could be devolved from London to Edinburgh, but he did not spell out what they were.
Mr Salmond was sceptical, telling the BBC: "If the prime minister has an offer to make to the people of Scotland then . . . he should spell it out now."Scotland has its own legal system and already has devolved responsibility for domestic matters such as health, education and emergency services.
Mr Cameron's trip to Edinburgh to speak personally to the Scots is a sign of how concerned London is about the referendum. The government will hope the offer of a further devolution of powers to Scotland could convince swing voters of the merits of staying in the union.
Polls suggest between 30 and 40 percent of Scots support independence. The SNP hopes it can increase that by 2014, when national pride may be boosted by the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, a famous victory over the English.
All major British parties want to keep the union intact, but Mr Cameron faces a dilemma over how to handle the pro-union campaign because his Conservative Party is unpopular north of the border, where it has just one member of parliament, and Mr Salmond portrays Mr Cameron's interventions as interference.
Reuters