Scotland has officially rejected independence: Scotland votes No and will remain part of the UK

                     
Scotland has rejected independence and will remain part of the United Kingdom as the referendum results show a win for the No vote.

This morning officials announced that the Scottish people have voted in favour of keeping the union together with the No side winning 55 per cent of the vote, compared to the Yes campaign’s 45 per cent.

Better Together campaigners celebrate in Glasgow

The historical referendum, which saw 85 per cent of registered voters turn out, started on a knife edge. However, over the course of the night the No vote started to pull ahead.

Celebrations in Glasgow city centre, where the Yes votes outnumbered the No, were a little pre-emptive after a nationwide majority sided with the Better Together campaign.

At just after six o’clock this morning the No vote count reached the 1.8 million mark, meaning that regardless of the results of the rest of the Scottish councils Scotland has officially rejected independence.

Yes campaigners celebrate Glasgow’s result before the official results were released

Douglas Alexander MP, speaking to Sky News, commented that despite the No campaign’s victory, politicians must now recognise that nearly half of Scotland’s population are not happy with being governed by Westminster.

The Queen is expected to make a written statement about the referendum result this afternoon.
Alistair Darling, who was leading the Better Together campaign, has tweeted that he will give a speech in Glasgow.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Alex Salmond said he ‘accepts’ the results and praised the high voter turnout.

The excitement was all a bit too much for some campaigners