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| Scotland independence: accusations fly between two sides in fight for votes | Scotland independence: accusations fly between two sides in fight for votes |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Campaigning in Scotland's referendum reached a new intensity on the final Sunday before the referendum, with thousands of canvassers and people manning hundreds of street stalls fighting for the final few hundred thousand votes either side needs to clinch victory. | |
| As Church of Scotland leaders prayed for harmony whatever the outcome of Thursday's vote, the yes campaign staged a mass rally in the key battleground of Glasgow, while more than 1,000 pro-UK campaigners formed a giant no at Edinburgh's main cricket ground. | |
| But despite the calls for unity, the bitterness that has marred much of the debate surfaced in Glasgow after sections of the 2,000-strong rally marched on the BBC's Scottish headquarters on the Clyde, and furiously accused the BBC's political editor of being a biased liar who deserved to be sacked. | But despite the calls for unity, the bitterness that has marred much of the debate surfaced in Glasgow after sections of the 2,000-strong rally marched on the BBC's Scottish headquarters on the Clyde, and furiously accused the BBC's political editor of being a biased liar who deserved to be sacked. |
| The protest followed accusations by Alex Salmond in the Sunday Herald of an "unconscious bias" by the "metropolitan" BBC against the yes campaign. | The protest followed accusations by Alex Salmond in the Sunday Herald of an "unconscious bias" by the "metropolitan" BBC against the yes campaign. |
| Salmond and Nick Robinson clashed last week after the BBC journalist continually pressed the first minister over the risks of Scottish banks moving business to England. | |
| Ian Davidson, the Glasgow South West Labour MP, accused members of the independence movement of going on the attack against anyone they thought was against them: "Yesterday it was the banks and some of the largest employers in Scotland. Today it's the BBC and MI5. | |
| "In the world of Alex Salmond and his fellow nationalists, everybody is against them. If you aren't actively for them then you are against them." | "In the world of Alex Salmond and his fellow nationalists, everybody is against them. If you aren't actively for them then you are against them." |
| But Salmond insisted the yes campaign was characterised by a "joyful, liberating and empowering" atmosphere as he appeared with the singer songwriter Amy Macdonald, Alex Kapranos, lead singer for Franz Ferdinand and Stuart Braithwaite from the group Mogwai before a pro-independence concert in Edinburgh on Sunday. | |
| Claiming the yes campaign had a momentum not being captured by opinion polls, Salmond said: "People who've never been interested in politics, never given a stuff about political parties or any politicians, are actually energised by this campaign. We know that will continue with a yes vote and I hope it can come under any circumstances. | Claiming the yes campaign had a momentum not being captured by opinion polls, Salmond said: "People who've never been interested in politics, never given a stuff about political parties or any politicians, are actually energised by this campaign. We know that will continue with a yes vote and I hope it can come under any circumstances. |
| "Something different is happening in Scotland and those who don't see it and feel it can't be out and about enough because I'm seeing it just about everywhere in this country now." | "Something different is happening in Scotland and those who don't see it and feel it can't be out and about enough because I'm seeing it just about everywhere in this country now." |
| Elsewhere in the Scottish capital, more than 1,000 campaigners came together to stage a publicity stunt at the Grange sports ground in Stockbridge by creating a human no, which was photographed from the air. | |
| "It started off with a couple of friends inviting a couple more friends who wanted to come together to show that they wanted a positive no result from Thursday's referendum," said Felicity Kane, who organised the event using Facebook. | "It started off with a couple of friends inviting a couple more friends who wanted to come together to show that they wanted a positive no result from Thursday's referendum," said Felicity Kane, who organised the event using Facebook. |
| "I'm not affiliated with any political party but I do have family spread out across the United Kingdom. What I really want to see on Thursday is the UK staying together and not splitting up." | |
| The event's original assembly point had been Arthur's Seat, the Holyrood Park peak overlooking Edinburgh, but its use was blocked by Historic Scotland after the agency said that it could not allow political campaigning to go ahead on the land. | |
| "We discovered through social media that a large campaign event was being organised at Holyrood Park, which is one of our sites," said a spokesman, who added that the agency's staff had also been busy removing campaign material erected on its lands by yes supporters and preventing other events from going ahead. | "We discovered through social media that a large campaign event was being organised at Holyrood Park, which is one of our sites," said a spokesman, who added that the agency's staff had also been busy removing campaign material erected on its lands by yes supporters and preventing other events from going ahead. |
| Material removed included a large yes banner placed some days ago on the cliff face beneath Edinburgh castle, which was taken down only on Sunday due to its precarious position. | Material removed included a large yes banner placed some days ago on the cliff face beneath Edinburgh castle, which was taken down only on Sunday due to its precarious position. |
| Campaign trail events on Sunday included Better Together leader Alistair Darling meeting financial workers in Edinburgh and the most significant intervention yet on the issue of the NHS when the former health secretary John Reid said that there were just five days to save the NHS in Scotland. | Campaign trail events on Sunday included Better Together leader Alistair Darling meeting financial workers in Edinburgh and the most significant intervention yet on the issue of the NHS when the former health secretary John Reid said that there were just five days to save the NHS in Scotland. |
| Arguing that it was a yes vote that would put the NHS at risk – rather than protecting it from London cuts – Reid drew on an intervention by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which revealed that Alex Salmond's Scottish government was planning cuts in health spending even though NHS budgets were rising in England. | Arguing that it was a yes vote that would put the NHS at risk – rather than protecting it from London cuts – Reid drew on an intervention by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which revealed that Alex Salmond's Scottish government was planning cuts in health spending even though NHS budgets were rising in England. |
| "They talk about funding. The Institute for Fiscal Studies showed this week again that the SNP has withheld from the Scottish NHS rises in spending which even the Tories, even the Conservative party spent on the English National Health Service," he said. "He [Alex Salmond] has a record that does not go anywhere near what we did during the Labour government and even worse if we go into the future with a huge fiscal deficit we need a pot of money in order to run our services then it will be even worse." | "They talk about funding. The Institute for Fiscal Studies showed this week again that the SNP has withheld from the Scottish NHS rises in spending which even the Tories, even the Conservative party spent on the English National Health Service," he said. "He [Alex Salmond] has a record that does not go anywhere near what we did during the Labour government and even worse if we go into the future with a huge fiscal deficit we need a pot of money in order to run our services then it will be even worse." |
| Earlier on Sunday, the Church of Scotland's moderator John Chalmers called for Scots to "live in harmony with one another" whatever the result and hailed the run-up to the independence vote as "a wonderful democratic concerto". | Earlier on Sunday, the Church of Scotland's moderator John Chalmers called for Scots to "live in harmony with one another" whatever the result and hailed the run-up to the independence vote as "a wonderful democratic concerto". |
| "All of those who will vote yes and all of those who will vote no need to remember that we belong together in the same Scotland," he said in a sermon at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. | "All of those who will vote yes and all of those who will vote no need to remember that we belong together in the same Scotland," he said in a sermon at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. |
| "We cannot afford to lose the momentum and interest in civic life which this campaign has generated," said Chalmers, whose church represents the largest religious group in Scotland. | "We cannot afford to lose the momentum and interest in civic life which this campaign has generated," said Chalmers, whose church represents the largest religious group in Scotland. |