North Ayrshire votes NO
At 5am in St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire delivered a 'No' to the question 'Should Scotland be an independent country'...
By Vicky Murray in Saltcoats
At 5am in St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire delivered a 'No' to the question 'Should Scotland be an independent country'.
Returning Officer and Chief Executive of North Ayrshire Council Elma Murray delivered the result:
Votes cast: 96,173
84.4% turnout
Yes: 47,072 (49%)
No: 49,016 (51%)
85 rejected papers
The mood had been lively, in the school hall, particularly from the Yes camp - until the first 5 declarations came in. It went silent, the only sound to be heard was the shuffling of paper.
They perked up a bit when Dundee declared a Yes - but as the No votes piled up the mood grew sombre and hope faded.
When the result for North Ayrshire was announced there was a small cheer from the No campaigners, with the Yes people leaving the hall in a hurry.
Katy Clark MP for North Ayrshire and Arran predicted the people in this part of the region would back No - she was right.
What she did say was that regardless of the final outcome it was clear Scotland needed to change to make it better for the future.
North Ayrshire Council Provost Joan Sturgeon, who is the mum of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was immensley proud of her daughter and the campaign had been well fought and that while everyone must move forward together the genie had been let out of the bottle and couldn't be put back.