Scotland referendum is Cameron's moment of truth

LONDON — No regrets.

That's the message British Prime Minister David Cameron embraced as the rocky road to Scotland's independence vote — taking place Thursday amid an intense international spotlight — entered its final stretch.

Indeed, he may need to cling to that British stiff-upper-lip pose if the pro-independence vote prevails and Cameron goes down in history as the leader who lost Scotland. After all, he was the one who made the political decision two years ago to allow the vote — at a time when independence seemed implausible.

"I had a choice. You either say 'Yes, you can have that referendum, and here's a way of making it legal, decisive and fair,' or I could have taken the approach of just putting my head in the sand, and saying, 'No, you can't have a referendum'," Cameron said on the eve of a vote that could sever a Union between England and Scotland in place since 1707.

"I think that actually Scottish independence would be closer today if I had taken that approach than it is by having a proper, legal, fair and decisive referendum," he said in an interview with the London Times.

The latest polls project a slight edge for the pro-union side, a far closer outcome than had been expected just a few months ago.

Cameron is "clearly in a very difficult position because he has gambled very big and lost, in the sense that the vote is far narrower than expected," said Alan Trench, an expert on constitutional affairs and a professor of politics at the University of Edinburgh. "The problem the (Unionists) have always had, is they have been unsure of where they stood, and what their strategy should be."

For the first time during the independence campaign, a member of Parliament from Cameron's Conservative Party directly raised the possibility that the prime minister might be forced to resign over his handling of the vote. "I hope Scots vote to stay. If it goes wrong, however, the prime minister will have to decide what the honorable thing is to do," Andrew Rosindell said.

Although Scottish independence would be a huge personal setback for Cameron, his party would benefit in the remainder of the United Kingdom, where support for the Conservatives is far greater than in left-leaning Scotland.

The close vote stems at least in part from the specific terms of the referendum that Cameron negotiated in 2012 with Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond, who wanted voters to have three options for independence: yes, no and no with enhanced authority over taxation, spending and other key issues. The last option had broad support.

Cameron opposed the three options at the time because Scottish public opinion strongly favored keeping the United Kingdom together as the world's sixth-largest economy.

Ironically, Cameron is now offering something that resembles that third option: vowing to give Scotland more autonomy if it stays in the U.K.

The SNP has labeled his offer a ruse. "The people of Scotland won't be fooled," Dennis Canavan, the chairman of Yes Scotland, told a rally.