The battle for Britain

About this book

When the SNP won a landslide victory at the 2011 Holyrood elections, a referendum on Scottish independence went from being a hypothetical pledge to an imminent reality. And when, in January 2012, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron dramatically intervened in the debate by demanding that a referendum be held sooner rather than later, he unwittingly let the constitutional cat out of the bag. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond responded by naming autumn 2014 as the point at which Scots would decide their future - as part of the United Kingdom or as a newly independent state. It would be, as both Unionists and Nationalists reminded voters, the most important decision faced by Scots since the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland. With the phony war of May to December 2011 over, both sides limbered up for a political fight that would last almost three years. The Battle for Scotland charts that long political fight, detailing the ins and outs of the referendum campaign based on opinion poll data, contemporary media coverage and, most importantly, in-depth interviews with protagonists on both sides of the debate: strategists, ministers, campaign gurus and leading journalists.