Scotland Independence Result: 'No' to Win with 54% of Votes - YouGov

A final YouGov Scottish referendum poll has predicted the 'No' campaign will win with a 54% majority.

The poll, based on the responses of 1,828 people along with 800 who had already cast their vote by post, taken after thay had voted today.

The results gave the Better Together campaign a lead of 54% compared to 46% for the 'Yes' campaign.

So far, they have been two arrests in Scotland because of assault allegations at polling stations, one 'Yes' voter and one 'No' voter.

The penultimate YouGov poll, taken on the eve of the referendum, gave the 'No' campaign a 52% majority. The poll, conducted for the Sunday Times, gave the same result as the previous YouGov poll taken six days beforehand, once the undecided voters were removed from the data.

The poll is the best indication on what the result might be as there is no exit poll for the referendum, which would have also broke down the voting demographic in terms such as age, race and gender.

Exit polls are conducted with people leaving the voting stations, whereas this final YouGov poll was based on recontacting voters online after they voted.

Elsewhere, amid fears of unrest at polling stations, 10% of No voters said they had encountered "unreasonable behaviour" by Yes campaigners at local stations, compared to 5% of Yes voters who said they encountered the same with Better Together voters.

The latest poll means that the Better Together campaign has led every single pre-election survey bar one – another YouGov poll for the Sunday Times which placed Salmond's campaign in front with a narrow 51% margin on 6 September, and triggered panic among the Wetminster political leadership.

The poll was seen as a wake-up call for the Better Together campaign after 'Yes' voters managed to claw back a lead, having at one stage polled just 39% of the vote compared to 61% for the No campaign.

The result meant all three political leaders made a frenzied journey up to Scotland in an attempt to gather support for the Better Together campaign in the final few days, a move which Salmond said proved "Team Westminster" were "panicking" over the outcome.

Now, as the polls are closed and the counting begins across Scotland's 32 local authorities, Darling's No campaign are once again on course to win the historic referendum and keep the 307-year Union together.

The announcement on Scotland is expected to arrive around 6am on the morning of 19 September, with several key declarations due to be revealed in the hours before that.

At 2am, the results in the first seven areas announced, including North Lanarkshire, which contains one of the largest portions of the electorate as well as being a strong Labour council.

At 5am, the results for the capital Edinburgh and Glasgow, the area with the highest share of voters, will be announced. If the 'Yes' campaign are to have any hope of winning this referendum, they must hope Glasgow provides them with a massive winning margin.

Both groups can ask for a recount in any of the 32 local authorities, but not after all the results have been declared.

Cameron is scheduled to give a televised speech on the referendum result, no matter what the outcome is.