Scotland referendum

[Vespasian28]

all the three parties have promised us at English and Welsh tax payers expense.

Politicians and promises. Two things that usually don't sit well together. And of course they have to ask the aforementioned tax payers as well.
However this goes I am expecting unforeseen consequences for all.

[marshalney2000]

Totally agree. As I said before there is a bumpy road ahead whatever the outcome.

[Athelas2211]

what time is it then? Any news?

[acarhj]

From what I've read, nobody (BBC) bothered to pay to have the exit polls done. So, there will be no news until the thing is decided by count. If it is that close, then it won't be decided until the last vote is counted. That may take a bit of time.

[ThvN]

Maybe they are afraid of calling it wrong? With such close results predicted, if they shoot off their mouths prematurely it will be a major media fiasco. The morning papers will be coming out late though, I imagine.

I just read that the first (local) results are expected in about an hour, with the rest following in the next hours. It seems that today, breakfast talk will not be boring, regardless of the outcome.


On a personal note: I am really learning a lot while following this thread, so thanks to everyone. The news outside the UK seems to treat this as some kind of sideshow, very disappointing... It doesn't help that here in Holland we just had 'Prinsjesdag' (basically the government trying to explain what they intend to do for the forseeable future), but I'm a bit sad that such major events always seem to be at the mercy of media mood swings.


EDIT: the BBC page with graphs/numbers of results as they come in: http://www.bbc.com/news/events/scotland-decides/results

[spotteddog]

First Council (of 32) declared 16k yes, 19k no.

The game is afoot!

Hunter

[Kerensky]

Looks like it's a 'no'
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29270441

I'm amazed at the high turn out though, according to that article something like 85%? Nothing voted for in the United States has turn out like that, not even presidential elections! Impressive.

[nigelemsen]

Well my point of view, common sense has prevailed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/events/scotla ... es/results

However, the various parties in this should note, a lot of people voted yes, and therefore clearly something is wrong somewhere... (Thank you hunter and your compatriots, for giving a none emotive understanding of why you wanted a yes vote. Until this thread I never understood why Scotland would want to separate)

Let's hope we can stop too much outside interference from EU/Brussels while we sort out how to run our (English/Scots/Welsh/Irish) UK the way we want to.

[MDH]

Well who'd have thought it?

It just shows there are lies damned lies and opinion polls except one US psephologist, who calls US elections right every time well in advance ( can't recall his name) and who also called this right over a year ago. UKIP and Europohobes take note.

Buy up all stocks of schadenfreude while you can as some idiots will be piling it on ( not on these pages I earnestly hope. In victory magnanimity Nelson said. This is a victory for us all including the "yes's" , truly.

But I can only empathise with all those young folk who became so enthused about the prospect of going it alone. :(Don't turn your backs on active citizenship. Keep at it where you live and in your communities and try to turn a political life serving the public back into an honourable calling.

I urge all of us to give Scottish sports teams and sportsmen and women a special welcome cheer whenever they appear in our stadia and on our screens in pubs. - and buy our Scots wargaming friends a beer ( or Irunbru) too when they appear at the tables.

True there will be some recriminations claims of rigging "we wuz robbed" etc by the unreconcillables and a lot of dry impenetrable sound and fury signifying nothing from all quarters while the UK ( phew no more ugly rUK) figures out what "further powers" means in practical rather than symbolic terms - without overly pissing off the English . That may be rather easier to do than it used to be, but on the whole we are still hard to rouse ourselves up in our realm of England .

So while a riven Scotland may, disconsolate, recede into history as a footnote in this century , nonetheless it is after having given us all in the Union a wake-up call and a reminder of what it means to be one.

[madaxeman]

From what I've read, nobody (BBC) bothered to pay to have the exit polls done. So, there will be no news until the thing is decided by count. If it is that close, then it won't be decided until the last vote is counted. That may take a bit of time.

Erm, I believe that it is against the law for the BBC to even comment on exit polls before the voting ended, so running one was probably out of the question. Not a money thing, just a law thing...

[carlisimo]

Erm, I believe that it is against the law for the BBC to even comment on exit polls before the voting ended, so running one was probably out of the question. Not a money thing, just a law thing...

You can run an exit poll, you just can't report on its results until polls close.

Anyway, best of luck healing any bad feelings that might have appeared during the campaigns. 55-45 may be a comfortable margin in normal elections, but it's a narrow result if you're talking about matters of national identity.