Scottish independence: 'No' leads referendum vote

The campaign to keep Scotland in the UK has taken the most votes so far in the Scottish independence referendum, as counting continues across the country, BBC reported.

At the half-way point in the count, the "No" group was on 56% of the vote, with "Yes" on 44%.

By 04:35 BST (05:35 BST), the "No" campaign had more than 670,000 votes, with "Yes" on just over 521,000.

Aberdeen City, the largest area to declare so far, voted "No" by a margin of more than 20,000 votes.

But Dundee backed independence by 53,620 votes to 39,880, while West Dunbartonshire also voted "Yes" by 33,720 to 28,776.

Clackmannanshire was first to declare, with "No" winning by about 2,600 votes.

Inverclyde voted "No" to leaving the United Kingdom by only 86 votes, while in Renfrewshire the totals were 62,067 for "No" and 55,466 for "Yes"

Voters in the Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland and Midlothian also voted against independence, as did Stirling, Falkirk, East Lothian, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway and East Renfrewshire.

Counting will carry on through the night, with the final result expected after 06:30 BST on Friday.

In Inverclyde, "No" received 27,329 and "Yes" 27,243, while in Orkney, "No" won 10,004 votes compared with 4,883 for "Yes".

In Shetland voters rejected independence by 9,951 votes to 5,669 and in the Western Isles, the result was 10,544 to 9,195 in favour of Scotland staying in the UK.

Polling expert Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the Clackmannanshire and Inverclyde results would be a "considerable disappointment" to the "Yes" side.

He added: "The results are beginning to point towards a 'No' victory albeit it may yet be a while before we are clear as to how big that victory is."

Blair McDougall, director of the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland in the UK, said: "We think there will be a clear 'No' vote tonight.

"I think the results we have seen now from places like Clackmannanshire - which is an SNP stronghold - are encouraging."

Speaking from the count in Perth, Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney, a supporter of independence, said: "It's a very early stage in the night, we have big declarations yet to come, and waiting to see exactly what the position will be in other parts of the country would be good advice at this stage of the night."

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