Scotland independence leader aiming for majority
Alex Salmond tells BBC although 'one vote is enough' still 'aiming to win a substantial majority.'
LONDON
With opinion polls still showing the "No" vote slightly ahead in the Scottish referendum, the pro-independence Scotland First leader told the BBC on Sunday that although "one vote is enough" to win he is still "aiming to win a substantial majority."
Speaking to the Andrew Marr show, Alex Salmond said he expected his countrymen to seize their chance as if Scotland voted "No" to leaving the United Kingdom he didn't expect there to be another referendum for a generation, perhaps "a lifetime."
In the past month, the gap between the two sides has narrowed, both "Yes" and "No" campaigns redoubling their efforts to sway voters. Both Salmond and "Better Together" leader Alistair Darling appeared on the BBC show Sunday in a last ditch effort to win over what is thought to be around 15 percent who are still undecided.
Darling warned that the referendum is the "biggest decision we'll [Scots'll] ever take" and stressed that there'll be "no going back".
"It's not like an election where you can change your mind if things don't work out. If things go wrong this time, we've already voted - we're leaving.
"There is no way back, which is why in the next five days we will be targeting the 500,000 or so voters who have still got to make their minds up, because the decision is that critical."
Salmond said there would be "urgent business" to deal with following a "Yes" vote - adding that Friday- the day after voters go the polls, when the result is expected - there would be a "day of victory" and Scotland would have "achieved something astonishing".
He added that a "very, very substantial majority" of people in Scotland wanted the Queen to remain as head of state - The Queen of Scots is a "fantastic title" and a "fantastic prospect," he said.
Both leaders were agreed on one thing, however - a mutual admiration for each other.
Salmond described Darling as a "first-rate politician" who is "welcome to be a member of 'Yes Scotland'," adding: "We need talented people like him."
"Of course we have a very high regard for each other," added Darling, sitting alongside his political rival just days before the two fight it out in the polls.
The interview came after "Yes" campaigners said that their own canvassing had shown that "the votes are there for a 'Yes' majority." Better Together, meanwhile, has said its own vote was "holding up".
According to the BBC, a poll of polls - collating the results of the six most recent surveys - has put the "Yes" campaign at 49 percent and the "No" campaign at 51.
Scotland goes to the polls September 18, threatening a union that has lasted for 305 years.
If the "Yes" vote is successful, Scotland is not expected to leave the U.K. until 2016, the Scottish government proposing March 26, 2016 as its Independence Day.
