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UK offers Scotland new powers after independence poll shock

The British government scrambled on Sunday to pledge greater autonomy for Scotland, after a poll put the pro-independence camp ahead just 11 days before the referendum on separation. 

Finance minister George Osborne said greater tax and spending powers would be announced in the coming days and would be implemented if Scotland votes on September 18 to remain in the 300-year-old union with England. 

The government’s offer came after a YouGov poll published in Sunday Times newspaper gave the ‘Yes’ camp 51 per cent support compared to the ‘No’ camp’s 49 per cent, excluding undecided voters. Six per cent said they had not made up their minds. agencies

Although the two-point lead is within the margin of error, the findings dramatically up the stakes ahead of the vote, giving momentum to Scottish first minister Alex Salmond and his separatist Scottish National Party (SNP). 

‘Scotland faces a very big choice,’ Osborne told BBC television. ‘If people were in any doubt that they can stay at home, that they don’t need to go out to the polls and vote ‘No’ to avoid separation, they won’t be in that doubt on Sunday. 

‘They should also be in no doubt about the consequences of this decision,’ the chancellor of the exchequer added.

‘No ifs, no buts: we will not share the pound if Scotland separates from the rest of the UK.’ 
He said sharing the currency after independence would be equivalent to a couple divorcing but keeping a joint bank account. 
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