The waiting is over. The First Minister, Alex Salmond, has spoken. The Scottish independence referendum will be held on 18 September 2014. He announced the date to the Scottish Parliament while bringing draft legislation on holding the vote before MSPs for scrutiny. Voters will be asked the single question – “Should Scotland be an independent country?” – with the simple choice of yes or no!
It’s provoked a quite expected difference of political opinion. 
The SNP government described it was an historic day; but opposition parties accused the Scottish Government of keeping voters in the dark for too long. Until now, ministers have only been willing to say that the referendum would take place in the autumn of 2014.
“It’s worth reflecting,” said Mr Salmond in the Chamber as he announced the date, “just for a moment, on the privilege this nation and this generation will have – nothing less than choosing the future course of our country. We have been on a journey since 1999, since the restoration of our parliament here in the heart of our ancient capital. We’ve witnessed a growing confidence, an increase in democratic accountability.”
In his remarks, the First Minister went on to outline a scenario in which “Scotland now faces two futures”. The UK, he said, was “an outdated political entity that ill-serves the interests of the people of Scotland”; he then compared that with an independent Scotland, a country that would “get a parliament that is both fully empowered and fully accountable to those whose lives are affected by its actions”.
What happens now is that MSPs will debate the arrangements in the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill. A while paper outlining the Scottish Government’s case for independence will be published later this year. 
Ministers argue that a “Yes” vote will allow Scotland to use its natural assets to build a better country. Opposition parties by contrast argue Scotland is better off as part of the wider UK. At least the passage of the legislation is assured because of the SNP’s parliamentary majority.
Labour claimed that the long delay in setting up the poll – nearly two years after the SNP’s landslide victory in May 2011 was proof enough that the First Minister knew he was going to lose. The party’s leader, Johann Lamont, argued that the 18 months between now and next year’s vote would put Scotland “on pause”, delaying much needed action on poverty and economic recovery. “The truth is that Alex Salmond knows if he held the referendum now, he wouldn’t just lose, he would be routed. All the self-aggrandizement of today isn’t just a sign of the first minister’s usual pomposity. Making an occasion out of a delayed announcement is an attempt to con the people into believing that we have moved a step towards independence when we haven’t.”
The opposition currently has evidence from opinion polls to back their scepticism. Support for independence has remained firmly at around a third of voters with the most recent surveys putting support for leaving the UK some 19 points behind that for remaining in it. However, it may be that the SNP is hoping for a patriotic surge next year. 
It’s not only the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn; it’s also the year when Scotland hosts both the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson welcomed the clarity brought by the statement. She pleaded for the level of the debate on the issues to rise beyond “baseless assertions” and “exaggeration”, although she made her own position clear by stating: “I believe that, in September of next year, the people of Scotland will vote to stay within our United Kingdom. The First Minister knows that the people of Scotland have expectations regarding the level of debate. They also demand and desire information they can trust on which to base this most important of decisions.”
Willie Rennie, who leads the Scottish Liberal Democrat in the Parliament told MSPs that he was “…sure the first minister is excited by today’s events, but after all the build-up, this looks like one of those occasions where the trailer’s more exciting than the movie. It’s taken the first minister almost 700 days to get the Cabinet to agree to the date of the referendum – why on earth does he think it will take him less time to break up the country?”
We can only hope that the debate which now ensues well answer some of the vital questions that remain on the technicalities of independence for Scotland. One key and on-going issue is clarification of a newly independent country’s relationship with the EU for instance. What would happen over the currency, passports, North Sea gas and oil, defence, intelligence sharing and the Trident nuclear deterrent remain largely unresolved.