EDITOR'S PICK

SUPPORTERS OF SCOTLAND’S CONTINUED INCLUSION within the United Kingdom react as the results of a referendum on independence are announced on 19 September 2014. Of the 3.6 million Scots who voted, 55 percent chose to preserve the 307-year-old union, while 45 percent preferred to secede.

The referendum was the culmination of a campaign in favour of independence led by the Scottish Nationalist Party, which holds the largest number of seats in the Scottish Parliament. That body, dissolved in 1707, was reconstituted in 1999 as part of a devolution of powers to the territory, and exercises significant legislative autonomy. In the lead-up to the vote, nationalists complained, among other things, of restrictions to the Scottish government’s power, including limited control over taxation. British leaders pledged greater devolution in a bid to bolster pro-union sentiment. After the referendum, nationalist activists called for those promises to be fulfilled.