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Leaders’ TV debate as referendum campaign enters its final stage

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Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling will spend nearly 30 minutes grilling each other live on TV this week as the referendum battle enters its final phase.

The campaign will be back with a bang on Tuesday with the TV showdown between the First Minister and the former Chancellor and MSPs returning to Holyrood.

The STV debate, starting at 8pm, will herald the most intense period of the referendum campaign, which is now expected to dominate until polling day next month.

Every house in Scotland will this week receive a 12-page booklet from the Scottish Government at a cost of £550,000 to the taxpayer. And yesterday it was reported top civil servants have been asked to cancel holidays planned for next week as they prepare to announce a string of pre-referendum “bribes”.

Pro-Union campaign Better Together says it has a bank of “powerful voices” to unleash in the coming weeks as it also looks to ramp up its campaign.

Blair McDougall, chief executive of Better Together, said: “The issues have been fairly well defined, I don’t think there are going to be many surprises now but what we will see is the tone and tempo increasing, people will notice an increase in the intensity.

“Our messages will be hard hitting but also funny, we’ve been at this for so long now there is a sense that voters are weary so we need to be creative in the way we communicate with them, something which the spending limits also forces you to do.”

He added: “We will have a mix of experts, celebrities and ordinary Scots in the coming weeks. There will be well-kent faces but also powerful voices.”

Tuesday’s debate is expected to attract record viewing figures in a two-hour show which will also see both leaders grilled by a 350-strong audience. Both politicians will have 12.5 minutes each to cross-examine their rival on the intricacies of their respective arguments.

Unusually, the programme will only have around 10 minutes of commercial breaks.

The Scottish Government only has three weeks left before civil servants will be banned from promoting the current administration’s policy of independence and a period known as “purdah” kicks in. It is thought this will spark a flurry of policy and spending announcements, as well as photo-calls at big projects such as the Forth Crossing.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser last night accused the SNP of resorting to “desperate, last-minute bribes to shift the opinion polls”.

Meanwhile, Blair Jenkins, Chief Executive of Yes Scotland, has said he believes the mass TV audience of Tuesday’s debate will benefit the Yes campaign.

He added: “The referendum is the best and biggest opportunity the people of Scotland have ever had to build the kind of country most people want more prosperous, fairer, where our vast wealth works for all the people.

“It is the opportunity of a lifetime one I believe that the people of Scotland will not want to pass up.”

A spokesman for Mr Salmond added: “This debate is a fantastic opportunity for the Yes campaign’s positive message to reach every home in Scotland and we know that when people engage with the issues and listen to the arguments they come down strongly in favour of a Yes vote.”

Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond will face off at 8pm on Tuesday.