Scotland Says No! - Now For Change

Scotland has said no thanks to becoming an independent country, 44.7% voted yes whilst 55.3% voted no on a turnout of 84.59%! This isthe highest turnout since universal suffrage was introduced in 1918. The highest turnout was in East Dunbartonshire at 91%, whereas the lowest was in Glasgow, where only 75% of people voted. For comparison, elections to the Scottish Parliament have never had higher turnout than 59% (1999). Of the 32 councils, only North Lanarkshire, Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and Dundee voted yes. Here is a table of how each council voted, ranked by margin of victory for no.

	Yes	No	Margin for No
Orkney	32.8	67.2	34.4
Scottish Borders	33.44	66.56	33.12
Dumfries & Galloway	34.33	65.67	31.34
Shetland	36.29	63.71	27.42
East Renfrewshire	36.81	63.19	26.38
East Lothian	38.28	61.72	23.44
East Dunbartonshire	38.8	61.2	22.4
Aberdeenshire	39.64	60.36	20.72
Perth & Kinross	39.81	60.19	20.38
Edinburgh	39.81	60.19	20.38
Stirling	40.23	59.77	19.54
Aberdeen City	41.39	58.61	17.22
Argyll & Bute	41.48	58.52	17.04
South Ayrshire	42.13	57.87	15.74
Moray	42.44	57.56	15.12
Angus	43.68	56.32	12.64
Midlothian	43.7	56.3	12.6
West Lothian	44.32	55.18	10.86
Fife	44.95	55.05	10.1
South Lanarkshire	45.33	54.67	9.34
Clackmannanshire	46.2	53.8	7.6
Falkirk	46.53	53.47	6.94
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	46.58	53.42	6.84
Highland	47.08	52.92	5.84
Renfrewshire	47.19	52.81	5.62
East Ayrshire	47.22	52.78	5.56
North Ayrshire	48.99	51.01	2.02
Inverclyde	49.92	50.08	0.16
North Lanarkshire	51.07	48.93	-2.14
Glasgow	53.49	46.51	-6.98
West Dunbartonshire	53.09	46.04	-7.05
Dundee	57.35	42.65	-14.7

Source: BBC

Following the loss in the referendum, Alex Salmond has decided to resign as First Minister of Scotland. I find this rather peculiar, at the beginning of the campaign everyone expected the result to be a resounding no. It was Salmond and the SNP that gave independence a real chance of winning. Nationalists will miss him greatly, and although I don’t like him, he is without a doubt a very able politician. 

On my opinion on what do to next read the post "Now For the Great British Debate"

For polling on how different groups voted in the referendum click here.