Indy ref battle heats up in campaign’s final 100 days

The referendum campaign will tomorrow enter the final 100 days with a surge in activity from the Yes and No camps.

First Minister Alex Salmond said it was the countdown to “one of the most exciting and historic days this nation has ever seen”.

And Better Together leader Alistair Darling said entering the “business end” of the campaign meant “now is the time for Scots to make our voices heard”.

A poll published yesterday showed English and Welsh voters want Scotland to remain in the Union.

But the SNP seized on the poll’s 548 Scottish sample which had 46% in favour of a Yes vote, claiming it showed independence is “well within Scotland’s grasp”.

The No camp piled the pressure on SNP ministers to tell voters how much an independent Scotland would cost to set up.

The Scottish Government has previously said it does not intend to publish the costs as so much would hinge on any post-Yes negotiations.

But it has emerged Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last year told MPs an assessment of costs would be published.

Better Together Campaign Director Blair McDougall said: “It’s about time the nationalists stopped trying to cover up the costs.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour peer John Reid accused First Minister Alex Salmond of running a Monty Python-esque campaign by deliberately ignoring the benefits of the UK.

At a rally in Stirling he said: “Every time I hear the SNP respond to an argument it reminds me of the sketch: ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’.

“What has the UK done for us? It gave us financial stability from the period after the Darien Scheme to a few years ago when RBS ended up with toxic debt greater than the GDP of Scotland.

“They, say: ‘Well, I give you that but what has the UK ever done for us?’.”