Some see Orange, some see red as big vote nears
Organisers claim up to 15,000 attended pro-Union march.
Thousands of members of the Protestant Orange Order have marched through Edinburgh in a show of strength against Scottish independence, as campaigning ahead of Friday’s referendum entered its final run.
Organisers claimed up to 15,000 people attended the march yesterday to show support for the United Kingdom.
Across Scotland, campaigners from both sides were pounding the streets at the end of a week that saw pro-unionists forced to raise their game after a poll put the pro-independence camp ahead for the first time.
However, a new Survation poll on Saturday suggests the ‘‘No’’ campaign has regained its lead, recording 47 per cent support to the ‘‘Yes’’ camp’s 40.8 per cent, with 9 per cent undecided and 3.2 per cent unwilling to say. An opinion survey for Sunday’s Observer placed the ‘‘No’’ camp on 47.7 per cent and ‘‘Yes’’ on 42.3 per cent, with 10 per cent not voting or not sure. An ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph found pro-independents had widened their lead to seven points, but used a small sample.
The ‘‘Yes’’ campaign led by Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond has 35,000 volunteers delivering 2.6 million leaflets over the weekend.
Many in the unionist ‘‘No’’ campaign are wary of outsider interventions, including last week’s visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Salmond predicted Scots would decide convincingly for independence.
‘‘I’m afraid that Mr Cameron and his Tory friends in Downing Street, and their Labour frontmen in Scotland, are going to get their comeuppance next week, because Scotland is going to go for yes in very substantial proportions.’’
Business leaders and economists have issued a string of warnings about the risks of breaking from the 300-year-old union, and yesterday’s poll indicated their message was hitting home. Some 40 per cent said their families would be
Members of the Orange Order march during a pro-union rally in Edinburgh. Thousands of Protestant loyalists from Northern Ireland and Scotland marched through the central city in an emotional show of support for keeping Scotland in the United Kingdom. financially worse off in an independent Scotland, against 27 per cent who believed the contrary.
The nationalists have reacted with anger at big businesses’ predictions, which they say are orchestrated by Westminster.
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars said ‘‘scaremongering’’ business leaders would face a ‘‘day of reckoning’’ if Scotland votes for independence.
He threatened BP with nationalisation.
But Salmond played down his remarks.
‘‘The day after a ‘Yes’ vote will be a day of celebration for the people, not reckoning for big companies drawn into the ‘No’ campaign by Downing Street,’’ the SNP leader said.
A band member plays the flute during the Orangemen march through Edinburgh yesterday.