David Cameron sets out 'emotional, patriotic' case to keep Scotland in UK

Prime minister uses speech at Olympic Park to make personal plea in run-up to Scottish independence referendum

The prime minister, David Cameron, told people in the rest of the UK to lobby their friends and family in Scotland with one message '!e want you to stay"' #hotograph $li Scarff%&etty 'mages Patrick Wintour, political editor()riday * )ebruary +,-. The United Kingdom has /ust seven months to 0save the most e1traordinary, buccaneering, brilliant country in history0, David Cameron warned on )riday in a passionate and personal plea to stop Scotland from breaking away" The prime minister said he was making his intervention because he wanted Scots to realise that people in 2ngland, !ales and 3orthern 'reland were not looking the other way or walking on by" 0't's so important for Scotland to realise that the rest of the family see this as a very important family decision,0 he told an audience at the velodrome in 4ondon's $lympic #ark" Cameron said all 56 million people in the UK had a voice in this year's historic referendum and urged people across the country to 0pick up the phone0 to friends and family in Scotland to urge them to vote against independence in September" 7fter setting out the moral, economic, geopolitical and diplomatic arguments againstScottish independence, Cameron said there was 0an emotional, patriotic case0 that traditionally reticent 8rits had been too reluctant to make"

Cameron is aware he is not the most persuasive voice in Scotland, but believes he cannot stay out of the argument and has chosen to raise the emotional stakes in the referendum" 9e admitted 0Some people have even advised me to stay out of this issue : and not to get too sentimental about the UK0, but added 0' care far too much to stay out of it"0

9e said he would be making further speeches in Scotland in the coming months and taking the cabinet to Scotland, and wanted to set out his belief that the UK family would be diminished if the Scots took the irreversible decision to leave" ;our country needs you Cameron's evocation of the $lympic spirit was criticised by Scotland's deputy first minister, 3icola Sturgeon" #hotograph 7ndy <ain%2#7 The S3# said the speech reflected /itters in the no campaign and said it was despicable that Cameron had dragged in the emotion of 8ritish $lympic success to win an argument about independence" 8ut Cameron brushed aside the criticism, saying 0Sometimes we can forget /ust how big our reputation is, that the world over the letters 'UK' stand for uni=ue, brilliant, creative, eccentric, ingenious" !e come as a brand : a powerful brand" 0Separating Scotland out of that brand would be like separating the waters of the river Tweed and the 3orth Sea" 'f we lost Scotland, if the UK changed, we would rip the rug from under our own reputation" The plain fact is we matter more in the world together" 0$ur reach is about much more than military might : it's about our music, film, T>, fashion" The UK is the soft power superpower you get teenagers in Tokyo and Sydney listening to 2meli Sand?@ people in KaAakhstan and Taiwan watching 88C e1ports like

Sherlock, written by a Scot a hundred years ago, played by an 2nglishman today, and created for T> by a Scotsman"0 7nd he said he wanted his daughter to be able to read his favourite childhood book : 92 Barshall's $ur 'sland Story 7 9istory of 8ritain for 8oys and &irls from the <omans to Cueen >ictoria : which tells the 0great, world(beating story0 of the UK" 9e said 0' passionately hope that my children will be able to teach their children the same : that the stamp on their passport is a mark of pride" That together, these islands really do stand for something more than the sum of our parts, they stand for bigger ideals, nobler causes, greater values" 0This is our home : and ' could not bear to see that home torn apart" ' love this country" ' love the United Kingdom and all it stands for" 7nd ' will fight with all ' have to keep us together"0 'n a warning to people who have so far given the referendum debate little attention, he said 0Centuries of history hang in the balance@ a =uestion mark hangs over the future of our United Kingdom" 0'f people vote yes in September, then Scotland will become an independent country" There will be no going back"0 Cameron said for him the best thing about the $lympics 0wasn't the winning@ it was the red, the white, the blue" 't was the summer that patriotism came out of the shadows and into the sun" 2veryone cheering as one for Team &8"0 9e ended his speech with a plea to everyone in the UK to urge Scotland to stay 0' want to be clear to everyone listening" There can be no complacency about the result of this referendum" The outcome is still up in the air and we have /ust seven months to go" Seven months to do all we can to keep our United Kingdom as one" Seven months to save the most e1traordinary country in history" 07nd we must do whatever it takes" So to everyone in 2ngland, !ales and 3orthern 'reland@ everyone, like me, who cares about the United Kingdom, ' want to say this you don't have a vote, but you do have a voice" Those voting are our friends, neighbours and family" 0;ou do have an influence" &et on the phone, get together, email, tweet, speak" 4et the message ring out from Banchester to Botherwell, from #embrokeshire to #erth, from 8elfast to 8ute, from us to the people of Scotland : let the message be this we want

you to stay"0 3icola Sturgeon, the deputy first minister of Scotland, said 0't is a mistake to mi1 politics and sport in this way" ' welcome people in the rest of the UK like David Cameron being part of the debate, but he cannot have his cake and eat it" 9e cannot say '' want to be part of the debate', but then say '3o, ' am not prepared to come to Scotland and have a head(to(head debate with the first minister D7le1 SalmondE'" 0'f that continues to be his position, he does not have the courage of his convictions, he does not have the guts to come here and actually test his argument against the arguments of 7le1 Salmond, and the yes campaign" 0'f David Cameron is still not prepared to do that but continue to deliver lectures from 4ondon, people will draw their own conclusions from that"0 She added 03ow we are being love(bombed, so let us celebrate the bonds of history, culture and family in all parts of the UK : but that does not mean we should be governed from 4ondon"0 #osted by Thavam