Scottish independence referendum: Piers Morgan finally honours promise – to leave the UK now Scotland has voted 'No'

The former Daily Mirror editor made a last-ditch attempt to persuade Scotland to vote ‘No’ and stick with the UK on Sunday

Friday 19 September 2014 11:52

Piers Morgan, whose career also spanned his editorship of The Mirror newspaper in Britain, will soon be no longer the nighttime face at CNN

(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The New Yorke)

Delighted, disappointed or just plain indifferent – it doesn’t matter how Scots voted in the referendum.

They can probably all agree that the outcome is at least beneficial for the Union from one perspective – and that perspective is being finally able to see the back of Piers Morgan.

SCOTLAND VOTE 'NO' TO INDEPENDENCE

The former Daily Mirror editor made a last-ditch attempt to persuade Scotland to vote ‘No’ and stick with the UK on Sunday (14 September) by making a tempting offer that was tough to turn down.

“Dear People of Scotland,” he tweeted, “if you vote NO, I promise to go straight back to America. #indyref”

Well, “for once”, we hear the masses cry, Piers Morgan has honoured his pledge. At least in jest, if this tweet is anything to go by:

The campaign for and against Scottish independence had a particularly high turn-out – not just the 87 per cent who voted at the polls, but of the famous faces who lent their signatures, careers and reputations to backing the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ campaigns that preceded it.

Scottish Independence: For and against

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1/24Scottish Independence: For and against

YES: “I hate England. I like Scotland because somehow I think they are better than we are. They are more democratic.”

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NO: "This argument needs to be had among us all, you can't selfishly resolve it amongst yourselves by taking an easy opt-out clause."

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UNDECIDED: “People are trying to make their lives significant,” he said. “[They] are engaged in a struggle for self-respect and significance.”

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UNDECIDED: “If you vote for continued unification or independence there is no protest vote – that’s it. And that could be it for decades, for centuries. There’s no going back from it."

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NO: “Unity with maximum self-determination sends a powerful message to a world torn by identity conflicts that it is possible to respect our differences while living and working together. This is the great challenge of our time. The Scots can show us how to meet it.”

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NO: “There will be havoc if you vote Yes in September. Havoc in Edinburgh and throughout the land and you will break the hearts of many others too… I know which side I’m on. I’m with JK Rowling. Just say No.”

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NO: “We want to let you know how very much we value our relationship and friendship. Of course regardless of your decision that will never change, however, my sincere hope is that you will vote to renew our historic bond which has been such a success over the centuries and the envy of the entire world. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together.”

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NO: "Scotland stay with us"

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NO: "You can be Scottish, you can be British and you can be European. We can have that. “I say have the parliament, have the more power, but be with us. Like David Bowie said, ‘Stay with us Scotland’ and I’m saying the same – don’t go."

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YES: "It’s an ‘aye’ (for Independence) from me, man."

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NO: "I started competing for Great Britain when I was 11. A lot of people forget that. I didn't like it when Salmond got the Scottish flag up at Wimbledon"

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YES: 'Scotland has huge national resources, with its people, its wave power – all the possibilities that this country has...we need to take charge of our own affairs'

Gary Calton

NO: "I am a proud, patriotic Scot, passionate about my heritage and my country. But I am not a nationalist."

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NO: "It will weaken the British team obviously if Scotland went separately, and it would be harder for the Scottish athletes, initially, to establish themselves in a new training environment, with new coaches, with a different environment altogether."

NO: "Eight-hundred-thousand Scots, like me, live and work in other parts of the United Kingdom. We don't live in a foreign country; we are just in another part of the family of the UK"

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YES: "The evidence is clear - in the past 15 years we have become stronger economically, socially, culturally and globally. The world is waiting for us and I know Scotland is ready."

Kalpesh Lathigra

NO: "Why insist on building a new border between human beings in an ever-shrinking world where we are still struggling to live alongside each other?"

Carlo Allegri, Reuters

YES: Independence would "create a new settlement that puts people before profit. Those in England who believe that our own society needs to be rebalanced along similar lines should wake up and join the debate"

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NO: "If Scotland go their own way (based on fingers crossed, f**k the Tories, William Wallace bollocks it'll be a damn shame. Still wish 'em well"

NO: "I'd hate to see the union broken after all these years. It's always been a spiritual home - but as I don't live there I shouldn't comment on independence. If it's good for the Scots I'm happy."

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YES: "As a Scot and as someone with a lifelong love for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportunity of independence is too good to miss"

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NO: "Salmond has the warm potato head of a man who is Scottish and – we hope – no threat"

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YES: "There is an opportunity for something innovative and visionary. Scotland could have some kind of new, ethical, visionary stance and it could take on some fresh ideas. That could be amazing, really amazing."

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YES: "They must cut ties with the United King-dumb. I love Scotland, and I love the Scottish spirit and they do not need Westminster in the least."

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Ultimately, it was the Better Together campaign that triumphed, preserving the nation’s 307-year-old union with England after a historic, record-breaking electoral referendum.

The result means David Cameron now faces mounting pressure for constitutional change within Westminster, after he promised Scottish voters he would give them more power if they rejected independence.

It also means that scores of strident celebrity pro- and anti-Union voices are desperately taking to Twitter with posts of patriotic pride or disappointment.

Find out what JK Rowling, Russell Brand, Nigel Farage and more had to say about the outcome here.

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