Scottish independence: Yes camp hails 'momentum'

Supporters of Scottish independence say the 'big momentum' is with them with less than two weeks to go before the referendum vote.

It comes as a Sunday Times poll suggests the Yes camp has taken the lead for the first time.

Some 51% of those who have made up their mind and intend to vote back an independent Scotland while 49% plan to vote no, the YouGov poll suggests.

Better Together leader Alistair Darling said it was a 'wake-up call'.

The poll of 1,084 people is the first and only serious study to put the Yes campaign ahead.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described it as a 'breakthrough' moment and said support for independence was growing particularly among Labour voters and women.

'Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world,' she said.

'More and more people are beginning to realise that a Yes vote is Scotland's one opportunity to make that enormous wealth work better for everybody who lives here, create more jobs, and protect vital services such as the NHS from the damaging effects of Westminster privatisation.'

As both sides step-up their campaigns with just 12 days to go till the referendum, a Downing Street source said David Cameron would 'strain every sinew' to make the case for the union.

The prime minister believes there is 'only one poll that matters', the source added.

But Mr Darling said: 'These polls can and must now serve as a wake-up call to anyone who thought the referendum result was a foregone conclusion - it never was.

'It will go down to the wire. Now is the time to speak up and speak out.'

Meanwhile, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears to blame the Conservative Party for the closeness of the battle.

In an article in the Sunday Mirror, Mr Brown suggested the Better Together camp was finding it 'difficult' to win over Scots because of anger over coalition policies - including changes to housing benefit and tax cuts for the wealthy.

But a senior source at the cross-party Better Together campaign denied there were any rifts and said they would not be changing strategy for the final days of campaigning.

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