Arizona Scottish club backs split with United Kingdom
Sep 18, 2014, 5:30 AM | Updated: 5:30 am
PHOENIX — Thursday marks a historic day in Scotland, as voters there are deciding whether the country should become independent of the United Kingdom.
Members of the Caledonian Society of Arizona will gather at Rosie McCaffrey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant to watch election returns Thursday night.
Caledonian Society President Mark Clark said most members of his group want a split from Great Britain.
“The overall majority believe it should be independent, so they are on the ‘yes’ vote,” said Clark. “It’s about 70 percent yes and 30 percent no. They want Scotland to be able to make decisions for themselves. They want Scotland to be able to spend their own money, rather than the U.K. government telling them what to spend the money on.”
A yes vote would trigger months of negotiations between Scotland and the British government over the messy details of independence, which Scottish authorities say will take effect on March 24, 2016, the anniversary of the date in 1707 that Scotland decided to unite with Britain.
A phone poll of 1,373 Scottish people by Ipsos MORI, released Wednesday, put opposition to independence at 51 percent and support at 49 percent, with 5 percent of voters undecided.
That means neither side can feel confident, given the margin of error of about plus or minus three percentage points.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.