Family ties will bind British Isles, says Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland will work with the rest of the UK. Picture: Getty

Nicola Sturgeon said the ties across borders were about people and not politics.

The comments follow David Cameron’s plea to Scots not to “break this family apart” by voting to leave the UK.

The Deputy First Minister said: “Those ties are not about politics, those ties are about people. I’m the granddaughter of an English woman, I have family in England. We’re going to continue to be part of the family of nations that make up the British Isles.

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“We will work closely and co-operatively with our friends across these islands but we’ll do so on the basis of equality, knowing that we’re responsible for the decisions that shape our future, that we’re responsible for our own money and we can decide the priorities for spending that money.”

Ms Sturgeon also said she was “enormously optimistic” about the outcome of the vote.

She said: “It’s a joy to be part of this campaign. This country is alive, it’s engaged, it’s enthused, it’s informed – everybody is talking about it, everyone is interested. People who have never voted in their lives are eager to vote on Thursday.

“It’s incredible and what’s driving all that is an enormous sense of optimism.”

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With less than 48 hours before the poll, Ms Sturgeon was joined by finance secretary John Swinney on a visit to Steel Engineering in Renfrew, where they met apprentices working on a metal Yes plaque.

Ms Sturgeon also dismissed a new vow by Westminster’s leaders to enhance Holyrood’s powers after a No vote.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Having come this far, we should keep control of the future of this country where it is just now, in our hands.

“We shouldn’t hand it back to the Westminster establishment and hope that we get some crumbs from the table.”