Highland voters back the No camp and take vote beyond 2 million
VOTERS in the Highland Council area have backed the No camp in the independence referendum.
In a much delayed vote that finally declared more than two hours after all the others, Electoral Officers in Dingwall have revealed that 53 per cent of voters backed the union, with 47 per cent in favour of an independent Scotland.
In all 165,976 voters took to Highland ballot boxes, with Yes getting support from 78,069 people and No getting almost 10,000 votes more with 87,739.
The Highland vote took No's final total beyond the 2 million mark - almost 400,000 votes ahead of Yes nationally.
There were 168 spoilt ballots in Highland and voter turnout was 86.9 per cent above the Scottish average of 84.5 per cent.
The declaration was delayed earlier in the morning after a serious road crash at the Berriedale Braes forced the closure of the A9 in both directions. It is understood the crash involved a lorry that may have overturned. This delayed the arrival of ballot boxes from Caithness and meant the original declaration time slipped from 4am.
The boxes arrived at the Dingwall counting centre shortly after 3am.
Berriedale Braes has since reopened to traffic although temporary traffic lights are in operation.
Neighbouring Moray also backed the No camp in the referendum with the vote split 58 per cent to 42 per cent in favour of the union.
More than 75,000 voters turned out (85.4 per cent of the electorate) with No registering 36,935 votes and Yes securing 27,232.
The final vote across the whole of Scotland was 2,001, 926 to No and 1,617,989 to Yes 55 per cent to 45 per cent winning margin for Yes.
