国际英语新闻:Better Together campaign adviser stresses consequence of Scottish independence referendum

GLASGOW, Britain, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum on Monday night called on voters to consider the potential consequence of their votes from the view of economic union, social solidarity and political union.

In a lecture titled "What happens after a No Vote" co-organized by the University of Glasgow and Policy Scotland in the Scottish largest city, Jim Gallagher, the cross-party Better Together campaign's adviser on policy and strategy, argued that it will mean more than just a rejection of a separate state, but that for the first time Scots have democratically endorsed the Union.

He stressed that Britain needs to do more than just deliver on promised powers, but cannot simply revert to "business as usual". It needs instead to review its whole territorial constitution in the light of the referendum.

In the same way, Scottish politics cannot simply return to a pre-referendum state. Something profound will have changed, but the Scottish polity remains weak and too constitutionally focused, according to the visiting Professor at Glasgow University.

He proposed for strengthening the devolved polity's capacity to deal with public policy questions, calling for investing more public money on public institutions in Scotland.

Answering questions from Xinhua, Gallagher dismissed the alleged "foregone conclusion" for the Scottish independence referendum on Sept. 18 as "coins could fall either way" with a surge of interests, while polls indicated that the "Yes/No" referendum will be "neck-to-neck".

He termed the referendum as an "important and significant huge event like an earthquake" not only at the Scottish level, but domestically and internationally, which shows a democratic value that the majority will win.

On Sunday, British Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne promised to give Scotland more power if voters reject independence in the forthcoming referendum after the YouGov Plc's survey for the Sunday Times put the "Yes" voters ahead of the "No" voters for the first time by 51 percent against 49 percent.

However, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond insisted that the only prospect for real change is a Yes vote on Sept. 18.

In October 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement, allowing Scotland to hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014 on the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?"