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Don’t go, Welsh regional daily urges Scots

A flagship newspaper in Wales has urged the people of Scotland not to vote to break away from the UK in this Thursday’s referendum.

The Western Mail became the latest non-Scottish newspaper to intervene on the referendum debate with a front page editorial on Saturday.

It read:  “We sincerely hope that Scotland’s people will choose to remain part of the UK – not out of fear of the unknown but because they can and do contribute so much to our lives.

“A UK without Scotland would be like December without Christmas, Hay-on-Wye without books, an Eisteddfod without poetry, or the Tower of London without the crown jewels..”

The Mail becomes the latest in a series of English and Welsh regional titles to come out in favour of the Union ahead of this week’s vote.

Elsewhere the Nottingham Post also issued a front-page ‘Please Don’t Go’ plea following a poll of its readers.

Only 95 out of 1,013 people in the Post survey hoped Scotland would choose to go it alone this week.

More than half the poll respondents (525) didn’t want Scotland to vote for independence on Thursday and a further 39 pc (393 people) were undecided on the issue.

The debate over the Scottish referendum could well lead to the devolution of more power from London to English regions. England’s largest cities, including Nottingham, are campaigning for more control over their finances.

But the Post poll suggests that there is currently limited understanding among the public about what this would mean for the city and the rest of the county.

The majority of respondents, 584 (58 per cent), said they did not know whether power should be devolved to the East Midlands or Nottingham.

However, Nottingham North MP Graham Allen said: “Devolution isn’t just for Scotland. It must also find a way to apply to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

There was an interesting footnote to the poll – conducted by work placement assistant Beth Roland.

The “high level of awareness” regarding the Scottish poll was in stark contrast to a similar one conducted for electing a city mayor

The Post told its readers: “It. was easier to engage people on this issue than it was when we conducted a similar poll regarding the city’s mayoral referendum – where fewer people knew about the ballot.”

3 comments

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  • September 15, 2014 at 9:27 am
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    I just don’t get it – how many readers in Scotland are going to be picking up these papers? Just serve your local communities without trying to piggy back on an issue that, deep down, has nothing to do with your town or city.

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  • September 15, 2014 at 10:30 am
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    I don’t care what happens. I just want this wall to wall talking and writing about it to end. I am sure hacks find it a lot more interesting than general public.

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  • September 15, 2014 at 10:40 am
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    I hear that Wales asked for independence last week and were told they can go as soon as they liked…

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