[quote] Now with barely two weeks before the vote, the pollster which almost exactly one year earlier had given the No campaign a thirty point lead, revealed Yes was now two points in front. A BBC reporter - Laura Kuenssberg - would later reveal that a private poll carried out on behalf of the pro-Union No campaign showed an even bigger lead for Yes, 53% against 47%. The polls sent shock waves throughout the UK establishment. Should the result be replicated less than two weeks later then Scotland would become independent. The 307 year old Union with England would end. North Sea oil revenue would flow into a Scottish Exchequer and the Trident Nuclear weapon system would be removed from Scottish soil. The poll caused panic amongst the three main London based parties. It also triggered one of the biggest propaganda efforts ever witnessed in a peacetime UK. At the centre of the propaganda was the BBC. Speaking to former BBC reporter Derek Bateman in November, eight weeks after the referendum, Head of the NUJ Paul Holleran revealed that the day after the Yougov poll which showed Yes ahead, the BBC went into panic.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 02:47:42 +0000