rfmcdonald | [LINK] "Alex Salmond announces Scottish independence referendum date" (Reply)

The Scottish independence referendum long promised by the Scottish National Party government has been scheduled, as The Guardian's Scotland correspondent noted. I'll have to keep my eye on this one; the results could be quite interesting, not least judging by Canada's experiences with referenda on separatism and my experience of said.

Alex Salmond has announced that Scotland's independence referendum will be held on 18 September next year, giving the independence movement 545 days to convince a largely sceptical population to say yes to leaving the UK.

Both the pro- and anti-independence campaigns launched online clocks counting down to referendum day, which the first minister had decided would come four weeks earlier than some expected.

Around 4 million voters, set to include 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time in a major poll, will be asked a single six-word question: "Should Scotland become an independent country?"

Salmond said 18 September would be "a date which becomes etched in our nation's story as the day Scotland took a decisive step forward to a better, fairer future".

But opposition leaders said Salmond knew that independence was unpopular: a series of opinion polls has consistently shown that about a third of Scots back independence, with support for remaining in the UK commanding majority support.

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said it had taken Salmond some 700 days since he won a landslide in the Scottish elections to confirm the date.

Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, said the further delay in staging the referendum meant Scotland would remain "on pause", delaying much needed action on poverty and economic recovery.

The Scottish government had repeatedly failed to set out in detail how an independent Scotland would function, what its tax, welfare and pensions policies would be or how it would improve health and education, Lamont said.