11/09/2014 Scotland Decides

Tonight, Alex Salmond claims Scotland is

on the "cusp of history", just a week before referendum day.

The First Minister plays down the issue of banks relocating

For the first time in Scottish history, on the 18th of September,

we, the people, hold our destiny in our own hands.

Dozens of Labour heavyweights campaign on the streets of Glasgow

From right across the United Kingdom, we are proud to say no. We

are proud to stand here in solidarity will stop `` solidarity.

With just a week to go before referendum day Alex Salmond

says he's confident that the people of Scotland will vote Yes.

In a speech in Edinburgh he invited people to take the next step towards

The First Minister played down reports that a number of financial

institutions could relocate to London if there's a Yes vote.

Tonight the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mr Salmond is

continuing to ignore warnings about the possible impact of independence.

Let's hear some of what the First Minister had to say this morning.

Scotland is on the cusp of making history. The eyes of the world are

upon Scotland. What the world is seeing is an articulate, peaceful,

energised debate. Scotland will vote yes next Thursday. And it will vote

yes because last`minute cobbled up promises from the no campaign which

unravel at the slightest scrutiny will not fool anyone in this

country, and neither will the blatant bullying and intimidation of

the Westminster government. The no campaign is in terminal decline. In

contrast, a yes vote is the opportunity of a lifetime. An

opportunity to build a fairer, more prosperous country, and today marks

a special moment in Scotland's home`rule journey. It is exactly the

17th anniversary of Scotland voting yes to reconvening to the

restoration of a Scottish parliament in 1997.

Meanwhile, dozens of Labour MPs were in Glasgow to try

Speaking beside the statue of former First Minister Donald Dewar, Ed

Let us be clear, it is because of the achievements of Donald Dewar,

because of devolution, that the NHS in Scotland is run by the people of

Scotland. And so, don't listen to the words and scaremongering of the

SNP. The only person who can privatise the NHS in Scotland is

Alex Salmond, and that is the proof that the people of Scotland know ``

the truth. Labour cherishes the NHS, so vote for a stronger National

Health Service. Right across this country, from

right across the United Kingdom, we are proud to say no and proud to

stand here in solidarity. We are proud to stand up and fight for

jobs, the NHS and for our country. The SNP's Treasury spokesman

at Westminster Stewart Hosie joins RBS, Lloyds, Clydesdale, DSP, Tesco

bank, all saying that they may relocate their registered

headquarters outside of Scotland if there is a yes vote. It is a

terrible vote of no`confidence in the economic plans `` TSB. No, I

don't think that's a good characterisation all. They're

already headquarters in London and as for relocating... WELL, they are

talking about moving that. No what is relocating any jobs operations,

no one is planning to change the way in which banking is done at all. The

only thing they intend to relocate is a brass plate from one building

to another. The key thing is the way in which the no campaign have played

this through the campaign. They will scaremonger, they will have every

single job loss threat blown up out of all proportion. Listen to what

the banks themselves have said will stop this is a technical matter and

it does not affect a single job or operation, or the way that banking

is done. That is the truth of it, and I think the Scottish people know

that. It's an astonishing argument. You are in the middle of the

campaign arguing that Scotland should be a separate and independent

country, saying that it doesn't matter whether the banks in Scotland

operating are effectively Scottish or not, because that is what

reregistering their headquarters would do. Nono of the banks have

been Scottish and meaningful sense of the decade. RBS is 83% owned by

the UK Government at the moment. It is also a bit odd. Santander and our

Spanish. HSBC by another name. People will use banks were a variety

of reasons because the services are good and the rate of interest they

get is good. Where they are registered or where they are

ultimately owned is of little consequence in an international and

globalised world. People will care very much about the price they are

paying for groceries. We had warnings from John Lewis, Waitrose

and Asda saying prices might go up in an independent Scotland. The real

news on this is that David Cameron had the supermarket bosses into

number ten, no doubt to twist the arm and intervene in the debate.

Morrisons have also said prices could go down. There is actually no

reason whatsoever why a single price in a single supermarket should

rise. Instead of sneaking in the shadows... You cannot be suggesting

that the Prime Minister had them into Downing Street and asked them

to lie about what was happening to prices. He might have asked them to

talk about it now, but they might be telling the truth if they say prices

will govern. I'm not accusing them of lying at all. I said the Prime

Minister has had them into number ten to intervene in the debate. What

I am pointing out is that previously, some of the supermarkets

have said that prices could fall. Asda said that their prices follow

cost, so as the costs are being planned to be reduced, there could

be a fall. The bottom line in the supermarket story is that David

Cameron is twisting arms behind the scene instead of having the guts to

have the debate themselves, which is what has happened through the

campaign, absolutely shameful behaviour by David Cameron, and

nobody would believe that either. If bad news comes in threes, you had

the banks, the supermarket, then the governor of the Bank of England

right into the Commons committee today confirming how many billions

of pounds he thinks the Scottish Government would need to keep in

reserves if you did not have a formal currency union with sterling,

and it could be anything up to ?4000 per person. That doesn't seem to

have been taken account of in your plans. What the governor was asked

to do yesterday on the committee, and I was at the hearing, was to

provide a range of numbers based on what other countries do, that is

countries which share a currency, without a formal currency union. The

governor provided information to the Treasury Select Committee today, and

it has been published. But as you know, we are not proposing to do

that. Our favoured option is a formal currency union because it is

in the best interests of both Scotland and the rest of the UK, and

the governor was at pains yesterday to make sure that everything he said

yesterday, and the things he has published, our stuff that was

already in the public domain. Nothing has changed from the central

bank's technocratic assessment based on the speech even in Edinburgh

earlier this year, and we remain absolutely confident that with a yes

vote on the 18th, calm heads will come together and the negotiations

on `` on the union of currency will start in earnest without the

political baggage on the 19th. When you look at the economic headlines,

it looks bad. The First Minister give a robust defence of the news

about the banks. The campaign on the ground has gone from strength to

strength. The fact that the Prime Minister is having to strong arm

supermarket bosses and the Labour Party are having to bring up English

MPs to Glasgow tells us the state of panic in the no camp. I am afraid I

do not agree with your assessment of the campaign. Thank you for speaking

to us. Today thousands of 16 and 17 year

olds who will be voting for the first time ` have been taking part

in the biggest political debate that Whatever the outcome of

the referendum, these teenagers will It'll be

the first time that anyone their age has been given a vote in a national

election ` in any part of the UK. And because of that ` there's been

a huge focus on their views. Our Scotland correspondent

Lorna Gordon reports. This is not your usual day trip away

from school. Thousands of first`time voters from across Scotland coming

together to discuss their future. There are some arguments about who

is voting what way. Some posters go up, some come down. 100,000

teenagers have registered to vote and it will be the first time at the

ballot box and they will make it count. I like the fact that we are

getting involved in something political, because so often you get

a disconnect in teenagers from politics. This is what today is all

about. This venue is normally packed with people who are here for pop

concerts or sporting events, but these teenagers are here to watch,

listen and engage with prounion and pro`independence politicians who are

debating with each other and with them. How would independents affect

job opportunities? If we have control over our economic levers, we

can create more opportunities. There are many jobs in Scotland because we

work with people in other parts of the UK. Questions on jobs, tuition

fees and their. What statement would be yes and no campaigns make to help

me make my decision? We will have challenges, we have huge control

over our health and their education and policing. We stand together with

other people as well. Big issues for the next generation and in seven

days time, these teenagers will vote for the first time in a referendum

which is all about their future. Stay with BBC News for the latest

on the Scottish referendum... You can watch "The Big,

Big Debate" tonight at 9 ` as thousands of first time voters

have their say on the referendum. You can get the latest online `

including today a look at how the referendum result might

affect Scottish sport? James Cook will be here tomorrow

evening with a round And I'll be back on Monday

at 7.30 and 9.30. Alex Salmond predicts Scotland is

on the "cusp of making history" and accuses

his opponents in the independence Oscar Pistorius is cleared

of murdering his girlfriend