The Spectator

One week to save Britain

The Scottish independence referendum is the most important vote in recent British history

[Getty Images/iStockphoto] 
issue 13 September 2014

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[/audioplayer]Next week, the most important vote in recent British history will be held. Indeed, it may well turn out to be one of the last ballots in British history. Seven months ago, this magazine devoted its front page to warning that the United Kingdom was at grave risk of dissolution. The unionist apparatus had decayed, argued Alex Massie, and Alex Salmond was the best late-stage campaigner in Europe. The SNP deployed the language of nationhood and destiny, while the ‘no’ campaign droned on about the Barnett Formula. The conditions for calamity were in place.

At last, the Prime Minister has realised the seriousness of the threat: a ‘yes’ vote would end his political career, but that would be the least of it.

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