Three leading regional dailies in the North of England today issued a last-ditch plea to Scotland not to go its alone as referendum day finally arrived.
Scots are voting today to decide whether or not to become an independent country after a campaign that has dominated the UK news agenda for months.
Polls are showing the result as too close to call with the gap between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps closer than the 3pc margin of error for opinion pollsters.
But most of the Scottish and English newspapers who have expressed an editorial view on the referendum have come out against independence.
Those arguing for a no vote were joined today by two of the biggest titles in Northern England – the Yorkshire Post and the Northern Echo – together with regional newspaper of the year the News & Star, Carlisle.
In coming out against independence, the Johnston Press-owned Post echoed the views of the company’s Edinburgh-based flagship The Scotsman.
It said today: “We implore voters to endorse the No campaign and acknowledge that Scotland and Great Britain’s interests are best served as one country that is united in a common desire to secure a better future for all.”
The newspaper said that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond had “failed to make a convincing case for the United Kingdom’s break-up.”
“His economic assumptions, not least on currency union, are fanciful; politically neutral military leaders say Scottish independence would make the whole UK more vulnerable to attack and his scare-mongering over the NHS has been distasteful,” it said.
The Newsquest-owned Echo also followed the lead of its Glasgow-based sister title The Herald in coming out against independence.
Editor Peter Barron said in a blog post: “We hope the Union is maintained because, at a time when separatist movements around the world are threatening global stability, we simply believe we are better off sticking together and building on the connections and understanding we have shared for generations.
“Scotland has made itself heard. It has exposed the inadequacies in the leadership and governance of the UK. It has made its point and forced the main party leaders to regret their complacency in their last-minute rush to salvage the wreckage.
“But Scotland does not need to break up the United Kingdom.”
The News & Star, which actually circulates across the Scottish border – also published a pro-Union front page picturing a cairn built by ‘Better Together’ supporters, including Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart.
News & Star photographer Stuart Walker came up with the idea of recreating at the cairn one of history’s most famous photographs – the raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 – as an image representing the views of those who believe Scotland should remain in the UK.
In an editorial comment, the paper said: “While we appreciate this is a day for Scotland, it’s important to the rest of the UK, particularly the north of England, that we don’t create greater division in the land.”
The Glasgow-based Sunday Herald – also part of the Newsquest stable – remains the only regional title to come out in favour of independence.
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All well and good – thought the Southern Daily Echo’s front page appeal to their readers in Southampton was a bit much though!
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Understandable decision, and no doubt right and sensible in the real world, but the evil genie sitting on one of my shoulders wanted the Post and Echo to back a “yes” vote with that earthy northern entreaty to the Scots to “haddaway an *****”.
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Rather a pity that although the referendum result could be determined by Friday breakfast time the vast majority of the ‘evening’ papers on both sides of the border will not carry this ‘today’ story in their Friday editions as they will have been printed the night before – and miles away from the cities and towns they purport to cover and ask questions for. Not that they tell their declining readership of this fact. Not that this is highlighted by the BBC, ITV and other broadcasters. So on Friday the readers who do not work in offices (there are some!) and who can’t dawdle over the internet will not read of immediate reactions from local politicians and industrial and financial leaders of how a possible Yes vote will affect, for example, defence manufacturers in the north and south-west of England. Oh, but visit our website/twitter account for blah blah….Read (or maybe don’t read) and weep. Mrs Worthington, a word of advice, put your daughter on the stage.
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