In a sign of new
panic in the British ruling elite over the fate of the 307-year-old union,
Cameron and opposition leader Ed Miliband scrapped their weekly
question-and-answer session in parliament to speak at separate events in .
"We do not
want this family of nations to be ripped apart," Cameron, 47, said in an
opinion piece published in newspaper. "The is
a precious and special country."
But Cameron,
whose job may be on the line if he loses Scotland, tempered the emotion with a
clear
warning: "If
the UK breaks apart, it breaks apart forever."
Cameron has until
now been largely absent from the debate after conceding that his privileged
background and center-right politics mean he is not the best person to win over
Scots, who returned just one Conservative lawmaker out of 59 in 2010.
Given the
unpopularity of the Conservatives in Scotland, Cameron's trip is fraught with
danger: if Scots vote for independence, Cameron will be blamed just as prepares
for a national election planned for May 2015.
Cameron, Miliband
and third party Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg - all English born - will
visit Scotland in what nationalist leader said was a sign of panic that would
only help the secessionist cause.
"If I
thought they were coming by bus I’d send the bus fare," Salmond said. The
Scottish leader said Cameron was the most unpopular Conservative leader ever
among Scots, and Miliband the most distrusted Labour leader.
'DISUNITED
KINGDOM'
Several opinion
poll surveys have shown a surge in support for independence over recent weeks,
discomfiting investors and raising the biggest internal challenge to the United
Kingdom since Irish independence almost a century ago.
Following a vote
for independence, Britain and Scotland would face 18 months of talks on how to
carve up everything from North Sea oil and the pound to European Union
membership and Britain's main nuclear submarine base at Faslane.
Aside from the
money, nuclear weapons and oil, uncertainties include the course of the 2015
election, the structure of the United Kingdom, symbols of state such as the
"Union Jack" flag and even the role of the monarchy.
With the fate of
the United Kingdom hanging in the balance and polls showing a swing among
Labour voters to
the independence camp, the referendum has electrified Scotland.
On streets and in
pubs and meeting halls from the Highlands to the windswept islands of the
Atlantic, independence is being debated with passion.
Bookshops are
full of referendum guides and tracts for and against independence. The Scotsman
newspaper published six pages of letters on the vote on , equally split between yes and no,
including some from English people and Scots in .
"This is the
most exciting thing I’ve done my life,” said Kate, a waitress in a restaurant
serving fancy Scottish fare in Edinburgh’s Old Town. She wore a blue “Yes”
bracelet on her wrist. Others can be seen wearing blue “Yes” T-shirts but there
are plenty of “No” supporters too.
Seeking to tap
into a cocktail of historical rivalry, opposing political tastes, and a
perception that London has mismanaged Scotland for decades, nationalists say an
independent Scotland could build a wealthier and fairer country.
Unionists say
independence would needlessly breakup the United Kingdom and usher in years of
financial, economic and political uncertainty. They have warned that Scotland
would not keep the pound as part of a formal currency union.
"If the UK
lost Scotland, it would be diminished," said John Major, who served as
Britain's premier from 1990 to 1997. "We face a constitutional
revolution."
Cameron, the
unionist campaign and the Labour party have all been criticized for allowing
the case for the United Kingdom to be overly negative, riven by divisions and
coldly economic.
Major, 71, hinted
at a much longer catalog of mistakes, blaming the Labour government of Tony
Blair for granting devolution to Scots, a step he said had stoked the drive for
separation.
The nations of
Britain have shared the same monarch since James VI of Scotland became James I
of England in 1603. Formal union created the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707,
known today as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which
includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
(Writing
by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Peter Graff)
Culled:
Reuters
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