IT is decision time.

The future of the United Kingdom hangs in the balance today as four million Scots go to the polls in the independence referendum.

The campaigning is over, debates have raged and protests have been held.

Tomorrow we will find out if people voted ‘yes’ to breaking away from 300 years of shared history or vote No to stay in the Union.

The Daily Echo is backing the Better Together campaign’s bid to save the Union arguing that independence would have serious repercussions both for an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Copies of the newspaper were even taken on the campaign trail north of the border by Southampton Itchen MP John Denham.

Our exclusive poll of 500 people in Hampshire revealed that 69.8 per cent of 500 people asked in Hampshire wanted Scotland to remain part of the UK. A total of 45.8 per cent said they should have had a vote on an issue that affected the future of the nation.

Yesterday Better Together supporters in Southampton joined the Daily Echo in making a final plea to people in Scotland to say No and keep the nation in the Union.

Peter Bonenberger, 62, and his wife Marianne, are both teachers on the MSC Opera vessel currently docked in Southampton.

They both told the Daily Echo they hope the United Kingdom remains a union, adding a vote for independence could set a precedent for other nations across Europe to follow suit.

Marianne said: “I hope Scotland stays with the UK because they have for the past 300 years.

“We should not got the way of nationalism and I think Scotland have expected too much to be independent.”

Peter added: “I think the Scots had a feeling they were not being heard but we should be open-minded.”

Peter Welborn, a 60-year-old electrical engineer from Bitterne, Southampton, believes voters in Scotland will vote ‘no’.

He said: “I think it’s going to be a ‘no’ but the Scottish people I know will want to vote ‘yes’ but will vote ‘no’. Both countries would suffer if independence was voted for.”

A One Poll survey of 5,000 adults in the UK found that 53 per cent of those who took part outside Scotland did not want the country to leave, compared to the 21 per cent who did want the country to go it alone.

Celebrities led the final day of campaigning for the Yes camp with a rally in the centre of Glasgow.

Actors Elaine C Smith and Martin Compston joined Deacon Blue singer Ricky Ross on the steps of the Royal Concert Hall to generate support in the final hours before the vote.

Meanwhile former Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed hundreds of UK supporters at a community centre in Glasgow, standing shoulder to shoulder with his former Chancellor Alistair Darling, leader of the Better Together campaign, and Scottish leaders from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.