Scottish independence referendum, 2014

The Scottish independence referendum of 2014 is a planned ballot on the question of whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom and become a separate country. Any resident of Scotland who will be over 16 years of age, a citizen of the Commonwealth or European Union (EU) and enrolled on a local electoral register is eligible to participate on 18th September 2014 (about a fifth of the electorate have been issued with postal ballots, which will have been sent in before the 18th). The referendum has been an election pledge of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which has governed Scotland since 2011 and supports independence, as does the Scottish Green Party. The other main Scottish parties - Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats - oppose independence but accept or promote devolved government, a process which began with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

The referendum will consist of a single question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" Major issues that have emerged during the campaign include the status of the UK's sterling currency, which the SNP plans to continue in use after independence, and whether Scotland would be ejected from the European Union on departure. The two issues are linked because, under EU rules, new applications must also agree to join the euro currency. The UK parties have ruled out a sterling 'currency union' in which the UK would share the pound with an independent Scotland; in response, the SNP has said that the new country would not shoulder its share of UK national debt.

The union started the campaign with a good lead in the opinion polls, but thsi steadily declined over the course of the campaign, and in the last fortnight some polls started giving independence a lead.