Scots may split

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond are set to approve plans for a referendum on Scottish independence.

Mr Cameron, who strongly opposes the breakup of Britain, is to meet Scottish National Party ( SNP) leader Salmond in Edinburgh today after ministers said they had reached agreement on terms for the vote.

London is expected to give Scotland’s administration the power to conduct the historic referendum in the autumn of 2014, offering Scots a straight ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ question on leaving the United Kingdom.

The British minister responsible for Scotland, Michael Moore, said yesterday the agreement would be ‘‘the green light for the most important decision people in Scotland will ever have to make’’.

He hammered out the terms with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who along with the rest of the SNP — which governs in the devolved Edinburgh parliament — will be cam- paigning for a ‘‘yes’’ vote.

Opposing the Scottish breakaway will be Mr Cameron’s Conservatives and their coalition partners in the British parliament, the Liberal Democrats, as well as the opposition Labour Party.

Mr Cameron told his party’s conference last week that Britain should build on its spirit of unity from the London Olympics.

‘‘ Whether our athletes were Scottish, Welsh, English or from Northern Ireland, they draped themselves in one flag,’’ he said.

‘‘There was, of course, one person who didn’t like that. He’s called Alex Salmond. I’m going to go and see him on Monday to sort out that referendum on independence by the end of 2014.

‘ ‘ There are many things I want this coalition government to do but what could be more important than saving our United Kingdom?’’

Only a minority of Scots appear to want independence, with a survey released on October 8 by pollsters TNS-BMRB showing 28 per cent in favour.