Friday 19 September 2014

Breaking News: Scotland rejects independence as 'No' campaign triumphs

Scotland has rejected independence, despite the Yes campaign winning a majority in the largest city.
While Glasgow voted in favour of independence, the margin of victory was not large enough to give Alex Salmond and his campaign the momentum they need.
There were also wins for Yes in three of Scotland's 32 local authority areas - Dundee, West Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire.
While there was a comfortable majority in Dundee, the turnout in the city was 78.8% - lower than many other parts of Scotland, indicating that the Yes campaign has not managed to get voters out in sufficient numbers.
The turnout in Glasgow was even lower at 75%, with 194,779 Yes votes (53.49%) and 169,347 No votes (46.51%). Continue..
At the same time, nationalists conceded defeat in Alex Salmond's Aberdeenshire constituency.
SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said: ''At the end of the day, you always prefer to win but we always knew the size of the mountain we had to climb in Aberdeenshire.
''The challenge now bluntly, in Aberdeenshire and elsewhere, is for those who've won the referendum to deliver on the promises that they made to the people of Scotland."

Eilidh Whiteford, SNP MP for Banff & Buchan, said: ''Expectations in Aberdeenshire were never going to be that stellar. We always realised that if you win Aberdeenshire, you're going to win everywhere."
SNP leader Mr Salmond had been expected to make an appearance at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) but instead went directly to Edinburgh from his home in Strichen.

Sir Malcolm Bruce, Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon, said: ''The point about this area is that it's Alex Salmond's backyard and his basic proposition has been overwhelmingly rejected here in Aberdeenshire, which I think will have implications.''

On the First Minister's decision not to appear at the AECC count, Sir Malcolm said: ''He only likes to come for acclamation, he doesn't like to come and commiserate with his troops. I think good leaders should be with their troops whether they win or lose but he only wants to be the centre of attention.

''He was coming here until he got first indication that it wasn't going well and he immediately aborted it.''

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