John O'Neill

Scottish independence referendum results: what to expect

Coffee House is ready to cover the independence referendum results, and we’ll be bringing you news and analysis throughout the night. Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson will be blogging – and you can follow them on Twitter @FraserNelson, @IsabelHardman and @JGForsyth for immediate reaction.

Polls close at 10 o’clock tonight – but anyone still queuing will be allowed to vote. There’s no exit poll so we won’t have an immediate estimate of the result. Votes will be counted in each of Scotland’s 32 council areas, and as each council’s total is checked and accepted by the Chief Counting Officer, Mary Pitcaithly, the local counting officers will be able to announce their result. The 32 results will then be combined to give the final result, expected at around 06:30-07:30 tomorrow morning. And it is final: although there may be recounts at a local level, there won’t be a national recount – no matter how close the result.

Here’s when we think the councils will declare:

Council Expected declaration time Share of electorate
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 02:00 0.5
North Lanarkshire 02:00 6.3
Inverclyde 02:00 1.4
Orkney 02:00 0.4
East Lothian 02:00 1.9
Perth & Kinross 02:00 2.8
Moray 02:00 1.8
Clackmannanshire 02:30 0.9
West Dunbartonshire 03:00 1.7
Dumfries & Galloway 03:00 2.8
Angus 03:00 2.2
South Lanarkshire 03:00 6.1
East Renfrewshire 03:00 1.7
Dundee 03:00 2.7
Falkirk 03:00 2.9
Renfrewshire 03:00 3.1
East Ayrshire 03:00 2.3
Aberdeenshire 03:00 4.9
Stirling 03:00 1.7
Midlothian 03:30 1.6
Anrgyll & Bute 03:30 1.7
West Lothian 03:30 3.2
South Ayrshire 03:30 2.2
Shetland 03:30 0.4
East Dunbartonshire 03:30 2.0
Fife 04:00 7.1
Highland 04:00 4.4
North Ayrshire 04:30 2.7
Scottish Borders 05:00 2.2
Edinburgh 05:00 8.7
Glasgow 05:00 11.5
Aberdeen 06:30 4.2

Source: Credit Suisse

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