Scottish nationalists launch 'Yes' vote campaign

Scottish nationalists launched an official 'yes' campaign for independence on Friday ahead of a likely 2014 referendum on severing the more than 300-year-old union with England. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said the semi-autonomous region should run its own foreign, economic and defence policies, and promised that he would try to get one million Scots to sign a declaration of support. "We're gathered here today at the start of something really, really special," Salmond said at the launch of the cross-party "Yes Scotland" campaign at a cinema in Edinburgh. "I want Scotland to be independent not because I think we are better than any other country, but because I know that we are as good as any other country," he said. A message from James Bond star Sean Connery, a long-time Scottish independence supporter who now lives in the Bahamas, was read out at the launch. "This is a historic day for Scotland," said Connery's message, read out by Martin Compston, an actor who recently starred in the Ken Loach film "Sweet Sixteen". The launch, which involves Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP) as well as the Green party, comes despite the fact that a date has not been finalised for a referendum. Salmond wants the referendum in late 2014 and has proposed to offer a third option of increased devolution. The British government favours a swifter in-or-out vote. A London-backed pro-union campaign is expected to be launched later this year. An opinion poll commissioned by anti-independence supporters and released on Friday found that 33 percent of Scots would opt for a split while 57 percent would reject it. "Our opponents, and we have a few, they're rich and they're powerful. And therefore to win, and to win well, we're going to have to galvanise the whole community of the realm of Scotland," Salmond added. "We intend to take our case to the people by community activism and by online wizardry, and by the time we enter the 2014 campaign our intention is to have one million Scots have signed the 'independence for Scotland' declaration. "And friends, if we achieve that then we shall win an independent Scotland." Scottish independence raises fundamental issues beyond the future of the United Kingdom itself. A split would involve questions over what happens to revenue from North Sea oil reserves, whether Scotland would become a republic or keep Queen Elizabeth II as monarch, and whether or not it would continue to use the British pound. There is also the issue of Britain's submarine nuclear deterrent which is based in Scotland, and even of Britain's status as a member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO and the European Union. Salmond has pushed for a referendum since 2010, when the SNP won the first majority in the Edinburgh parliament since the assembly was formed in 1999. The Scottish government already has powers over some policy areas such as health and education for the nation of 5.3 million people, but defence, energy and foreign affairs remain with London. "If the parliament can run education then why can't it run the economy?" Salmond said. "If it can be trusted to run the health service, then why can't it represent Scotland internationally? If it can be trusted to protect our old people, then why can't we protect the country and do so without the obscenity of nuclear weapons?" British Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to fight to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom.