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 In a sign of new panic in the British ruling elite over the fate
of the 307-year-old union, Cameron and opposition leader Ed Miliband
scrapped their weekly question-and-answer session in parliament to
speak at separate events in Scotland.
"We do not want this family of nations to be ripped apart," Cameron,
47, said in an opinion piece published in the Daily Mail newspaper.
"The United Kingdom is a precious and special country."
The prime minister, whose job may be on the line if he loses
Scotland, tempered the emotion with a clear warning: "If the UK
breaks apart, it breaks apart forever."
Cameron has until now been largely absent from the debate after
conceding that his privileged background and center-right politics
mean he is not the best person to win over Scots, who returned just
one Conservative lawmaker out of 59 in 2010.
Given the unpopularity of the Conservatives in Scotland, Cameron's
trip is fraught with danger: if Scots vote for independence, Cameron
will be blamed just as Britain prepares for a national election
planned for May 2015.
Cameron, Miliband and third party Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg
- all English born - raced up to Scotland.
They spoke at rallies in major cities surrounded by supporters
bearing "No" posters. But nationalist leader Alex Salmond said the
visits were a sign of panic that would only help the secessionist
"Yes" cause.
"If I thought they were coming by bus I’d send the bus fare,"
Salmond said, describing Cameron as the most unpopular Conservative
leader ever among Scots and Miliband as the most distrusted Labour
leader.
In Edinburgh, independence supporter James Curry, 33, said he found
the visits by politicians from London "insulting and patronizing".
"They should've been up here ages ago. Instead, they're having a wee
day trip, paid for by expenses," he said. "There's so much at stake,
and it seems so real already, I just hope we make it."
Sterling hit a fresh 10-month low against the dollar and a
three-month low against the euro, with traders citing an unverified
web poll conducted by an independent blogger which gave the "Yes"
camp a strong lead.
"DISUNITED KINGDOM"
Several opinion poll surveys have shown a surge in support for
independence over recent weeks, discomfiting investors and raising
the biggest internal challenge to the United Kingdom since Irish
independence almost a century ago.
Following a vote for independence, Britain and Scotland would face
18 months of talks on how to carve up everything from North Sea oil
and the pound to European Union membership and Britain's main
nuclear submarine base at Faslane.
Other uncertainties include the course of the 2015 election, the
structure of the United Kingdom, symbols of state such as the "Union
Jack" flag and even the role of the monarchy.
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With the fate of the United Kingdom in the balance and polls showing
a swing among Labour voters to the independence camp, the referendum
has electrified Scotland. On streets, in pubs and in meeting halls
from the Highlands to the windswept islands of the Atlantic,
independence is being debated with passion. Bookshops are full of
referendum guides and tracts for and against independence. The
Scotsman newspaper published six pages of letters on the vote on
Wednesday, equally split between yes and no, including some from
English people and Scots in England.
'DISUNITED KINGDOM'
Seeking to tap into a cocktail of historical rivalry, opposing
political tastes, and a perception that London has mismanaged
Scotland for decades, nationalists say an independent Scotland could
build a wealthier and fairer country.
Unionists say independence would needlessly breakup the United
Kingdom and usher in years of financial, economic and political
uncertainty. They have warned that Scotland would not keep the pound
as part of a formal currency union.
"If the UK lost Scotland, it would be diminished," said John Major,
who served as Britain's premier from 1990 to 1997. "We face a
constitutional revolution."
Cameron, the unionist campaign and the Labour Party have all been
criticized for allowing the case for the United Kingdom to be overly
negative, riven by divisions and coldly economic.
Major, 71, hinted at a much longer catalog of mistakes, blaming the
Labour government of Tony Blair for granting powers to a Scottish
parliament, a step he said had stoked the drive for separation.
The nations of Britain have shared the same monarch since James VI
of Scotland became James I of England in 1603. Formal union in 1707
created a single sovereign state, known today as the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which includes England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Michael
Holden, Kate Holton, Andy Bruce and Jemima Kelly in London and Angus
MacSwan in Edinburgh; Editing by Peter Graff)
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