Scottish Independence Rejected: How the Quiet No Army Beat the 'Yes Bullies'

Scotland has unleashed a resounding No across the country after rejecting independence by 55% to the No camp's 45%.

The Better Together campaign may have won the battle but the war is far from over.

Scotland's biggest city Glasgow had a massive turnout of 75% and 194,779 (53.5%) voted Yes while 169,347 (46.5%) voted no.

In the country's capital, Edinburgh, 84.4% turned out to vote with 194,638 saying No and only 123,927 saying Yes.

During our time down on the ground in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the results come as little surprise.

Yes Scotland, headquartered in Glasgow, were relentless in canvassing and campaigning. Scant on facts but big of passion, we encountered consistently well-versed taglines from the Yes campaign which spoke for young people through to those of retirement age.

All were united in saying they "hated the Tories" and that they didn't believe staying within the UK would change the fact that they felt forgotten and discarded by Westminster.

Glasgow was dubbed the "Jobless Capital of the UK" last year and there are many areas bludgeoned by poverty and crime. The Yes campaign were able to tap into local hunger for help and change without providing detail or clarity over how that would be implemented.

Yes Scotland voices were the loudest, brashest, and most intimidating by far. As journalists, we asked for detail and reaction to issues that needed a counter argument - the currency union, European Union membership, capital flight, confirmed business relocation, the amount of oil in the ground.

In response we heard cloudy but punchy one-liners delivered by the Yes camp, rehearsed and delivered instead of any substantial counter argument. In an interview with a prominent Yes figure, we were asked to change questions and not use the word "concern" at all.

It's a fact that oil reserves in the North sea have diminished over the years and revenue has declined - this was known before the referendum was announced.

However, mentioning these facts was commonly met with the response that "everyone is lying" and "no we are fine, we have enough oil". Utter denial in other words. Sir Ian Wood, who was commissioned to deliver an independent report over the nation's oil industry, had to come out of the shadows and eventually tell the Yes Scotland supporters to "stop misquoting me" when it came to facts and statistics.

In addition, the EU and Nato repeatedly said that an independent Scotland would have to reapply for membership, but the Yes camp proverbially put their fingers in their ears and refused to acknowledge or deliver a Plan B if authorities upheld the law.

The favourite accusation has been "scaremongering" when presenting facts that don't necessarily uphold a rosy outlook. While the group called Better Together "Project Fear", market experts called the pro-independence camp as "Project Denial".

In Edinburgh, the financial hub, Yes campaigners dominated the streets and posters were machine gunned crudely across windows too. Even the grounds leading up to the beautiful Edinburgh Castle was littered with Yes paraphanalia.

But how Scots voted in the capital city, seemed be to indicative of what was happening across the country.

When IBTimes UK spoke to locals who were voting No, many said it in a whisper or with a sheepish smile. Many said they were accused of "not being Scottish", a "traitor", or "Tory scum" while some said that stridently pro-independence bosses that they have, would have something to say about their opinion.

Many called them bullies; some Glaswegian contacts tell us, this morning, that they're still worried about posting anywhere on social media that they supported the union as they "don't want to be blamed in the fallout" when they get back to work.

Voters coming out of Edinburgh polling stations were predominantly No and on social media, with many under the guise of anonymity, said they may be more quiet but their support was stronger.

But, now what?

Scotland is still divided. Nearly half of the population wanted independence.

The No camp did not exactly win by a massive landslide and Westminster is now under pressure to deliver new and major powers to Scotland - and rightly so.

The No may have won the battle but the war is far from over for Scots are still hungry for change. Now all eyes turn to Westminster to deliver on its pledge to grant more devolved powers.