:00:10. > :00:16.We are a few days away from the people of Scotland taking control of
:00:17. > :00:22.the future of our own country. I want to know what Plan B is. So do
:00:23. > :00:26.you. In three days' time, Scotland will
:00:27. > :00:30.decide whether or not it wants to be an independent nation.
:00:31. > :00:35.Don't listen to the lies and scaremongering of the SNP.
:00:36. > :00:41.A generation ago, independence was a fringe obsession. Today, it is a
:00:42. > :00:45.mainstream ambition. What the Scottish people value is under
:00:46. > :00:50.threat if we don't vote yes. Scotland is on the cusp of making
:00:51. > :00:55.history. The eyes of the world are upon Scotland. It has shaken the
:00:56. > :01:00.British political establishment to its roots. Why has it happened? I
:01:01. > :01:16.will be heart broken if this family of nations was torn apart.
:01:17. > :01:22.My name is Allan Little. I have worked for the BBC for more
:01:23. > :01:25.than 30 years. I have reported from all over the
:01:26. > :01:30.world. Refugees have been flooding here
:01:31. > :01:39.since the fighting began. 50,000 so far... Allan Little, BBC News.
:01:40. > :01:46.But Scotland has always been the place I have called home.
:01:47. > :01:51.This is the village in Galloway, in rural south-west Scotland, where I
:01:52. > :01:56.grew up. I was born here in 1959. I left when I was 18 and I have not
:01:57. > :02:03.been back to the house I grew up in since.
:02:04. > :02:07.I have come to meet Peter Ross, the current owner.
:02:08. > :02:12.Hello, Peter. Hello. Nice to meet you.
:02:13. > :02:17.Can I look around? Of course, please. Our old house was built
:02:18. > :02:21.around 1900 by two Scottish brothers who spent most of their lives in the
:02:22. > :02:28.British colonies in Africa. They gave the house a name, which to me
:02:29. > :02:32.carried the exotic stamp of empire. It celebrated our remote little
:02:33. > :02:37.village's connection with power around the world. What struck me,
:02:38. > :02:43.even in the 70s, is Scotland felt connected to the empire, rather than
:02:44. > :02:49.to Europe. Yes. Absolutely. There are all these linages going --
:02:50. > :02:55.linkages going backwards and forwards. To my grandparents'
:02:56. > :02:58.generation, the empire bound Scotland to a powerful British
:02:59. > :03:03.identity. The empire which the sun never set is long gone. Can it be
:03:04. > :03:08.true that the sun may also set on the union between England and
:03:09. > :03:11.Scotland? Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the political
:03:12. > :03:17.landscape e here and across Britain, will never be the same again. So,
:03:18. > :03:27.how in the last 40 years did we get to where we are today? Well, in
:03:28. > :03:31.1974, if you had said in 2014 there will be a referendum, so close that
:03:32. > :03:33.Scotland might become independent, people would have recoiled in
:03:34. > :03:51.disbelief. For much of the 20th century,
:03:52. > :03:56.Scotland's shared sense of Britishness was powerful.
:03:57. > :04:03.An identity most in Scotland didn't even think about challenging.
:04:04. > :04:07.Britain is an island nation. On the shores, generations of craftsmen
:04:08. > :04:10.have made great ships for the world, but nowhere in such profusion as on
:04:11. > :04:23.the River Clyde, in Scotland. Drive along the Clyde nowadays and
:04:24. > :04:27.you see that only the ghosts of a industrial past remain.
:04:28. > :04:31.When I was growing up in Scotland, the British state counted for an
:04:32. > :04:39.awful lot. It bound the British together in a common purpose, a
:04:40. > :04:43.great kind of shared enterprise. The British state mined coal, built
:04:44. > :04:49.ships. There were shipyards along this stretch here. It even
:04:50. > :04:58.manufactured motorcars. By the 1970s, all that had begun to change.
:04:59. > :05:03.I think the idea that the UK was going to be a welfare state, that
:05:04. > :05:07.you could be proud of, that would look after citizens from cradle to
:05:08. > :05:12.grave, that was seen as a mission for the of British state that was
:05:13. > :05:17.supposed to emerge after the Second World War. Up until the 1970s people
:05:18. > :05:24.felt that was being achieved. At that point things began to go wrong.
:05:25. > :05:27.I can only give you one gallon, Sir. That will get you to your nearest
:05:28. > :05:41.garage. In the early 1970s, Britain suffered
:05:42. > :05:51.a series of economic shocks. In 1973, a gallon of four star doubled
:05:52. > :05:56.in price to hit 73 pence. Standards of living dropped. People
:05:57. > :06:01.started to see that in the post imperial world, they were subject to
:06:02. > :06:05.forces beyond their control. In Scotland, North Sea oil, recently
:06:06. > :06:09.discovered, acquired political symbolism.
:06:10. > :06:15.Now back to the election campaign here in Scotland.
:06:16. > :06:24.In the October 1974 election, Conservative rural Galloway where I
:06:25. > :06:28.lived return a Scottish nationalist MP to Westminster. I remember the
:06:29. > :06:32.shock of it. The nationalists claim they are now
:06:33. > :06:36.the fastest growing political party in Europe and that they have doubled
:06:37. > :06:44.their vote in every election since the war.
:06:45. > :06:51.Nationalists saw oil as Scotland's economic route to independence. Most
:06:52. > :06:56.Scots seemed unimpressed. In the 1970s the SNP wanted to win support
:06:57. > :07:02.from Labour voters, from anywhere. It didn't like to define itself on
:07:03. > :07:06.the left/right spectrum. It was a Scottish National Party. It caused
:07:07. > :07:10.enormous difficulties. It had not really settled on what kind of
:07:11. > :07:13.political party it was, beyond believing in independence.
:07:14. > :07:18.But there was something wrong with the Britain that most Scots still
:07:19. > :07:23.adhered to. It seemed preoccupied with managing its own decline. In my
:07:24. > :07:28.first year at Edinburgh University, as the "Winter of Discontent" took
:07:29. > :07:34.hold, the most pressing question we debated in politics was whether
:07:35. > :07:38.Britain had become ungovernable. My old university friend Laurie
:07:39. > :07:43.O'Donnell got involved in the student union with me. We had some
:07:44. > :07:47.SNP friends back then, but neither of us thought they would become the
:07:48. > :07:51.nom nant force in Scotland. -- dominant force in Scotland. How
:07:52. > :07:54.would you characterise the SNP of those years? They were mad-cap
:07:55. > :08:00.really. Mixed. Some really good people in there. They did attract a
:08:01. > :08:03.bit of a lunatic fringe as well. They seemed to be anti-English.
:08:04. > :08:09.There was a sense they were anti-English. Nationalists in
:08:10. > :08:15.Scotland has never been linguistic. The English are irritated. They are
:08:16. > :08:19.perfectly lovely people. The only problem is with five million and 58
:08:20. > :08:24.million, there are too many of them. Somebody said if an elephant is in
:08:25. > :08:28.bed with you, it will roll over in the middle of the night and flatten
:08:29. > :08:34.you. But it doesn't intend to and doesn't even know it. Scotland's
:08:35. > :08:40.first real flirtation with devolution came in 1979. It was the
:08:41. > :08:44.first vote I ever cast. I was 19 years old.
:08:45. > :08:52.The referendum that year offered an elected Scottish Assembly.
:08:53. > :08:57.Scot Scotland didn't say no or yes. It said, well, maybe we ought to go
:08:58. > :09:03.homeward to think again. Scotland voted far rofly in favour. It --
:09:04. > :09:09.narrowly in favour. More than one in three Scots didn't even vote. It was
:09:10. > :09:15.an odd period. I mean, history has rewritten it to an extent. At the
:09:16. > :09:20.end of the day, the turnout was low. The majority for a Scottish Assembly
:09:21. > :09:23.was slim. And there was really no broad-based appetite for it at that
:09:24. > :09:28.point. The day after the referendum, the
:09:29. > :09:34.Glasgow Herald ran a cartoon that summed up the mood. The idea that
:09:35. > :09:38.Scotland the brave had, when tested, in fact been feared entered the
:09:39. > :09:43.national narrative. In 1974, in the second election of
:09:44. > :09:49.that year, in October, the SNP won I think 10 or 11 seats. By 1979, these
:09:50. > :09:54.seats had virtually all disappeared. So, Scottish opinion, I think,
:09:55. > :09:58.veered from one direction to another. So, having made kind of a
:09:59. > :10:02.break through, the SNP rather lost their way towards the end of the
:10:03. > :10:09.1970s. Nationalism failed to take hold.
:10:10. > :10:13.Most Scots were either indifferent or overtly hostile to independence.
:10:14. > :10:17.In fact, in the general election that followed that failed
:10:18. > :10:20.referendum, one in three Scots voted Conservative.
:10:21. > :10:25.Easy to forget now. Good afternoon, Prime Minister. In
:10:26. > :10:29.1979, when Margaret Thatcher came to power, there were 22 Tory MPs from
:10:30. > :10:34.Scotland. Where there is discord, may we bring
:10:35. > :10:38.harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is
:10:39. > :10:42.doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we
:10:43. > :10:47.bring hope. Margaret Thatcher set out to make
:10:48. > :10:50.Britain governable. She would represent a radical break with her
:10:51. > :10:56.predecessors and the management of decline. She would take on what she
:10:57. > :11:02.saw as the excessive power of the trade unions. Those which had almost
:11:03. > :11:06.brought Britain to a standstill. A turbulent decade-long journey lay
:11:07. > :11:17.ahead, that would reshape Britain and Scotland's place in it.
:11:18. > :11:25.Newton Grange is the kind of pit village which breeds mining legends.
:11:26. > :11:37.For nearly 100 years it has sent its sons underground.
:11:38. > :11:42.In 1984 there were 21,000 coal miners in Scotland, now there are a
:11:43. > :11:47.few hundred. When the miners took on the Thatcher
:11:48. > :11:52.Government, the Thatcher Government won.
:11:53. > :11:58.Today, it is the heritage industry, like this former mine turned museum
:11:59. > :12:05.which employs miners now. Britain was an island of coal. It was built
:12:06. > :12:10.on coal. Coal, like empire, was a shared British experience, a common
:12:11. > :12:15.enterprise. Nicky Wilson went into a pit near
:12:16. > :12:21.Glasgow in the late 1960s at the age of 17. As a young man I used to love
:12:22. > :12:28.and sit and listen to the older men talking about the hard times, hard
:12:29. > :12:32.to get decent wanes. It has never been a Scottish Orwell sh miners'
:12:33. > :12:35.union. We had areas within the union, but the Britishness was
:12:36. > :12:39.always important. It is a national union. That is where the strength
:12:40. > :12:44.laid. These industrial communities were tough places for the SNP to win
:12:45. > :12:49.support. Working-class voters would say to activists, but we work for
:12:50. > :12:55.something called the National Coal Board, or British steel or British
:12:56. > :12:59.Shipbuilders, that is what pays our wages, our factories are integrated
:13:00. > :13:06.with plants elsewhere in the UK. Are you going to unpick all of that?
:13:07. > :13:09.But it was to be unpicked, anyway. Mrs Thatcher wanted a modern, lean,
:13:10. > :13:14.productive Britain. There was no place in it for old industries that
:13:15. > :13:18.had lost their global markets and could no longer pay their way.
:13:19. > :13:22.Slowly something else would be chipped away as the old industries
:13:23. > :13:28.fell into the dust. A culture, a way of thinking, a set of loyalties.
:13:29. > :13:33.Nicky is still proud of the principles he spent his whole
:13:34. > :13:37.working life fighting for - the cross border solidarity of the old
:13:38. > :13:43.trade union movement. He will not vote for Scottish independence. Does
:13:44. > :13:50.it spring from that experience of miners elsewhere in the UK? Yes, we
:13:51. > :13:53.were taught by my mentors, a fight for one is a fight for everyone. The
:13:54. > :13:58.minute you start to separate, then you weaken yourself and that goes
:13:59. > :14:02.against the grade and everything we were taught within the National
:14:03. > :14:13.Union of Mineworkers. My parents' generation were born in the 1930s.
:14:14. > :14:30.The Britain they inherited emerged we -- emerged we nor mouse stature.
:14:31. > :14:39.We can argue about the deindustrialisation of the 1980s,
:14:40. > :14:45.whether it was necessary or needlessly brutal. One unintended
:14:46. > :14:50.consequence was this... These industries were great and British
:14:51. > :14:55.enterprises and the communities that sustained them were bedrocks, not
:14:56. > :14:57.just of Labour loyalty but a British identity and solidarity in Scotland.
:14:58. > :15:04.They have all but gone. With each year that passes, they received --
:15:05. > :15:09.receded further into the middle distance of our collective memory.
:15:10. > :15:16.They allowed people to sink or swim and no longer supported different
:15:17. > :15:21.industries even though the community consequences were devastating. At
:15:22. > :15:24.that moment, they did not have a subtle enough understanding of the
:15:25. > :15:31.politics of the union. They began the breakup of the old Britain. New
:15:32. > :15:36.Britain was being born, reshaping some of the values by which the
:15:37. > :15:40.country left. In that new Britain, the market would drive wealth
:15:41. > :15:46.creation, the frontiers of the state would be rolled back. Increasingly,
:15:47. > :15:50.the market is global. The company that lights your home now probably
:15:51. > :16:03.is not even British now. Jaguar was taken over first by the Americans
:16:04. > :16:07.and this Jaguar was made by an Indian owned company. Some people
:16:08. > :16:12.say we are not a Scottish party, neither are we an English party, a
:16:13. > :16:17.Welsh party or an Irish party. We are party of the whole United
:16:18. > :16:22.Kingdom. Scotland began to rebel against his New Britain in the
:16:23. > :16:31.1980s. In 1987, support for Mrs Thatcher fell off a cliff. The 21
:16:32. > :16:34.MPs were cut to ten. Traditional industries where being closed. Mrs
:16:35. > :16:37.Thatcher was doing nothing to protect them. She was anti-Scottish
:16:38. > :17:00.and her party was anti-Scottish. In 1988, Margaret Thatcher addressed
:17:01. > :17:05.the General Assembly of the -- of the Church of Scotland, the closest
:17:06. > :17:09.thing the country had to parliament. Christianity should be about
:17:10. > :17:16.spiritual redemption and not social reform. She quoted Saint Paul. If a
:17:17. > :17:20.man will not work, he shall not eat. Clearly she thought this was an
:17:21. > :17:28.opportunity to deliver a sort of sermon. It was sort of theological
:17:29. > :17:34.self defence almost. It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong but
:17:35. > :17:38.love of money for its own sake. The spiritual dimension comes in
:17:39. > :17:44.deciding what 1 does with the wealth. My reaction like many others
:17:45. > :17:49.was she has not really understood the mood of the nation at this time
:17:50. > :17:54.or the nature of this occasion. There is no hierarchy in the Church
:17:55. > :18:01.of Scotland, no priests, nope bishops. The core doctrine is
:18:02. > :18:06.equality of all believers. Against Mrs Thatcher was a Scottish Gaelic
:18:07. > :18:13.Aryan spirit in sober Presbyterians blood. -- Eagan al Terry on. It
:18:14. > :18:20.confirmed that Margaret Thatcher is self and the policies were uncle
:18:21. > :18:26.Gene you will too Scottish people. -- were not congenial. Waitangi
:18:27. > :18:38.could almost hear the bonds of the union loosening. -- you could almost
:18:39. > :18:42.hear. Many saw this as emblematic of the diverging to pass that Scotland
:18:43. > :18:49.and the United Kingdom seem to be walking. You could sense the dismay
:18:50. > :18:55.in this hall. It was about the values they had come to associate
:18:56. > :19:01.with Mrs Thatcher 's Britain. Had there been a form of one nation
:19:02. > :19:06.Toryism, the kind that had been evident in some of the previous
:19:07. > :19:12.Conservative governments, the move towards devolution and independence
:19:13. > :19:16.would not have happened so quickly. In 1992, Scottish Conservatives
:19:17. > :19:24.increased their representation at Westminster from ten to 11 out of
:19:25. > :19:28.the 72 Scottish MPs. Scotland was still voting decisively against
:19:29. > :19:32.Conservative governments. For the fourth consecutive time, a team of
:19:33. > :19:37.Conservative ministers appointed by and answerable to the Prime Minister
:19:38. > :19:41.in London and moved into St Andrew's house to govern Scotland. Opposition
:19:42. > :19:47.MPs and grassroots activists began to talk of a democratic deficit.
:19:48. > :19:51.They argued that Conservative policies, supported by an English
:19:52. > :19:54.electorate, where being forced on Scotland despite having been
:19:55. > :19:59.repeatedly rejected at the ballot box. The very legitimacy of
:20:00. > :20:07.Westminster to govern at all in Scotland was being challenged. There
:20:08. > :20:11.was a strong feeling that Scotland is different and the needs, hopes of
:20:12. > :20:15.the Scottish people were not being taken into account by the
:20:16. > :20:20.Westminster government. We need a devolved parliament. The belief that
:20:21. > :20:24.Westminster had no mandate in Scotland became common currency.
:20:25. > :20:30.Labour, the largest party, walked onto that territory and claimed it.
:20:31. > :20:36.It was labour which really pushed the argument that there was a
:20:37. > :20:42.democratic deficit. The Tories were illegitimate and conservatism was an
:20:43. > :20:47.alien ideology. That, of course, was a nationalist argument. Once at best
:20:48. > :20:57.lukewarm about devolution, Labour were its champions. Ten years on,
:20:58. > :21:01.the Times had come. -- be time for devolution had come. The Queen led
:21:02. > :21:07.the ceremonies at the opening of Scotland 's first parliament since
:21:08. > :21:12.1707. It had been backed by an overwhelming majority of voters.
:21:13. > :21:18.Above all, this was Labour 's baby. Donald Dewar was its founding
:21:19. > :21:22.father. Walter Scott said only a man with soul so dead could have no
:21:23. > :21:27.sense, no feel for his native land. For me, and I think in this I speak
:21:28. > :21:34.at least for any Scot today, this is a proud moment. The parliament was
:21:35. > :21:38.created to end constitutional uncertainty and not become a
:21:39. > :21:41.stepping stone to independence. Devolution Labour believed was what
:21:42. > :21:46.they called the settled will of the Scottish people. This parliament
:21:47. > :21:51.would meet democratic aspirations and see off the SNP as an electoral
:21:52. > :21:57.threat. In the words of George Robinson, it would kill nationalism
:21:58. > :22:00.stone dead. There was an expectation that once you had parliament where
:22:01. > :22:04.that would be the end. It would be all that the Scots wanted. There was
:22:05. > :22:11.a failure to appreciate that the creation of this parliament would
:22:12. > :22:15.also create a new dynamic in Scottish politics. It gave the SNP
:22:16. > :22:20.the opportunity to become a governing party for the 1st time. In
:22:21. > :22:28.the hands of Alex Salmond, the SNP have become a very different kind of
:22:29. > :22:33.party. He led the SMP from a fringe movement in 1990. It had three MPs
:22:34. > :22:38.and they were not a series also that they were not taken seriously. Had
:22:39. > :22:44.you said that independent Scotland could not survive economically, very
:22:45. > :22:47.few people would have disagreed. While Labour 's top Scottish talent
:22:48. > :22:53.went back to Westminster believing the Nationalist threat had been seen
:22:54. > :22:58.off once and for all, the S MPs stayed at home and prospered. They
:22:59. > :23:09.won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. They have been
:23:10. > :23:16.bestowed trust in a Scottish election. We will take that mandate
:23:17. > :23:20.and that trust forward. That victory made a referendum on independence
:23:21. > :23:25.inevitable. When the referendum terms were signed, there remained
:23:26. > :23:30.disagreement on one thing. Alex Salmond wanted a third option,
:23:31. > :23:35.enhanced devolution, but still within the UK. Poll suggested that
:23:36. > :23:40.was what most Scots wanted. The same polls said support for independence
:23:41. > :23:45.was stuck around 30%. David Cameron said, no, no 3rd option. The choice
:23:46. > :23:52.should be decisive, independence or not.
:23:53. > :23:58.If Scotland votes yes on Thursday, will David Cameron regret shaking
:23:59. > :24:05.hands with Alex Salmond on that deal? It was very much the sense of
:24:06. > :24:08.the time that this issue, independence or not independence,
:24:09. > :24:14.was so clear cut that it was necessary to focus on that. With the
:24:15. > :24:18.benefit of hindsight which always gives an advantage, then perhaps an
:24:19. > :24:24.additional question might have been appropriate. All 3 Westminster party
:24:25. > :24:31.leaders have argued passionately for the union. Are they making errors of
:24:32. > :24:36.judgment? It is a momentous decision. It is not a decision you
:24:37. > :24:41.can make now and undo tomorrow. Sign up if you are fed up with the effing
:24:42. > :24:48.Tories, give them a kick. This is totally different. Do not listen to
:24:49. > :24:59.the lies and scaremongering of the S NP. It is not about me or any
:25:00. > :25:07.political party. It is about the right of Scotland to have a
:25:08. > :25:10.government of our choice. I see the changes that have swept Scotland
:25:11. > :25:15.these 30 years reflected in many of the friends of my youth. After we
:25:16. > :25:20.left university, Laurie O'Donnell became a Labour councillor in
:25:21. > :25:23.Dundee. He fought the SNP. Now, the Nationalists are no longer the only
:25:24. > :25:34.ones who have embraced the yes campaign. Laurie O'Donnell has as
:25:35. > :25:38.well. I am anti-Trident. I support free education for all. All of that
:25:39. > :25:45.seems to be a core of what I believe in. 30 years ago I would not have
:25:46. > :25:50.believed he would support independence. I think you probably
:25:51. > :25:57.were not listening to me. I have always said, it is a democratic
:25:58. > :26:03.question. People should decide how best to govern their lives. For me,
:26:04. > :26:09.it is not about independence, it is about democracy. There is a mystery
:26:10. > :26:13.about this. Social attitudes surveys reveal that Scots do not seem to be
:26:14. > :26:20.more left wing issue by issue than anyone else, at least not by very
:26:21. > :26:24.much. Why does Scotland make such radically different choices at
:26:25. > :26:28.elections? Why does this central Edinburgh constituency return a
:26:29. > :26:33.Labour MP dependably at election after election? When I first lived
:26:34. > :26:37.here it was solid, Conservative territory, utterly safe and
:26:38. > :26:42.Edinburgh was a conservative city. It seems to me there has been a
:26:43. > :26:46.long, slow revolt in Scotland against what is perceived here to be
:26:47. > :26:51.the growing inequality of British society. I am struck by how little
:26:52. > :26:55.of this debate at grassroots level has been about national identity and
:26:56. > :26:59.how much of it has been driven by the idea that an independent
:27:00. > :27:03.Scotland, rightly or only, could be a fairer, more equal society. If
:27:04. > :27:07.Scotland votes no on Thursday, what is the future for the union? Will
:27:08. > :27:14.the genie of Scottish independence go back into its bottle? One view is
:27:15. > :27:17.that devolution is a work in progress, a staging pro that is the
:27:18. > :27:25.proposed on a long journey that will 1 day end in independence. -- a
:27:26. > :27:29.staging post. Someone Tommy this was the high watermark for independence.
:27:30. > :27:37.After the vote, the tide will go out. When will the Nationalist stars
:27:38. > :27:44.he so aligned again? The tail end of a long recession, austerities, cuts
:27:45. > :27:51.and spending and an SNP majority at Holyrood. When will that happen for
:27:52. > :27:58.them again? What is the glue that holds the union together? Can it
:27:59. > :28:03.compare with the power of Empire, the building of a new Britain after
:28:04. > :28:09.the war. Many Scots still feel British to their core. How many? If
:28:10. > :28:17.Scotland votes no this week, is that it? Is the union saved? If I have
:28:18. > :28:20.learned anything from reporting this campaign, it is this. Future
:28:21. > :28:25.generations of Scots will need reasons to love and trust the union
:28:26. > :28:26.as our parents and grandparents did rather than simply to fear Beale
:28:27. > :28:51.tenanted. -- the all turn. Is rocket science
:28:52. > :29:02.easier than you think? Well, BBC iWonder
:29:03. > :29:08.is full of great questions