West Lothian votes NO
It was within just one hour of counting at the sports hall of West Lothian College that a smile began to appear on the face of the local council leader, John McGinty. And the Labour councillor's optimism was borne out as the hours ticked by and it became ever more clear that the No campaign had edged it...
By Max Steele at West Lothian College
It was within just one hour of counting at the sports hall of West Lothian College that a smile began to appear on the face of the local council leader, John McGinty. And the Labour councillor's optimism was borne out as the hours ticked by and it became ever more clear that the No campaign had edged it.
By around 2am the leader of West Lothian Council's SNP Group, Peter Johnston was conceding defeat and heading for home.
Really all that was left to do was to sift through hundreds of doubtful ballot papers, many with ticks rather than crosses, delaying the declaration by around 90 minutes.
West Lothian's result arrived at about 4.45am, along with a flurry of activity up and down the country. The No votes had won with 65,682 votes (55.18%) to the Yes campaign's 53,342 (44.82%). The turnout was 86.2%.
Speaking after the declaration, Cllr McGinty said: "That was an excellent result for us here. It reflects all of the hard work that's been done by the campaigners over many, many months.
"The people of West Lothian have made clear that they do not want to see Scotland leave the UK.
"But I understand there will be a lot of disappointed voters and what we have to do is to work hard to bring Scotland together".
Yes 53,342 (44.82%) No 65,682 (55.18%) No maj 12,340 (10.37%) Electorate 138,226; Turnout 119,024 (86.11%)