David Cameron’s Last Speech in Scotland Before Referendum
Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre in Aberdeen
15 September 2014
念错了一句,懒得改了
We meet in a week that could change the United Kingdom forever.
Indeed, it could end the United Kingdom as we know it.
On Thursday, Scotland votes, and the future of our country is at stake.
On Friday, people could be living in a different country, with a different place in the world and a different future ahead of it.
This is a decision that could break up our family of nations, and rip Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom.
And we must be very clear.
There’s no going back from this. No re-run.
This is a once-and-for-all decision.
If Scotland votes Yes, the UK will split, and we will go our separate ways forever.
When people vote on Thursday they are not just voting for themselves, but for their children and grandchildren and the generations beyond.
So I want to speak very directly to the people of this country today about what is at stake.
I believe I speak for millions of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and many in Scotland, too who would be utterly heart-broken by the break-up of our United Kingdom. Utterly heart-broken to wake up on Friday morning to the end of the country we love, to know that Scots would no longer join with the English, Welsh and Northern Irish in our Army, Navy and Air Force, or in our UK-wide celebrations and commemorations, or in UK sporting teams from the Olympics to the British Lions.
The United Kingdom would be no more. No UK pensions, no UK passports, no UK pound.
The greatest example of democracy the world has ever known, of openness, of people of different nationalities and faiths coming together as one, be no more.
It would be the end of a country that launched the Enlightenment, that abolished slavery that drove the industrial revolution, that defeated fascism, the end of a country that people around the world respect and admire, the end of a country that all of us call home.
And you know what, we built this home together. It’s only become Great Britain because of the greatness of Scotland. Because of the thinkers, the writers, the artists, the leaders, the soldiers, the inventors who have made this country what it is.
It’s Alexander Fleming and David Hume; J.K. Rowling and Andy Murray and all the millions of people who have played their part in this extraordinary success story, the Scots who led the charge on pensions and the NHS and on social justice.
We did all this together.
……
So this is our message to the people of Scotland. We want you to stay.
Head and heart and soul, we want you to stay.
Please don’t mix up the temporary and the permanent.
Please don’t think: I’m frustrated with politics right now, so I’ll walk out the door and never come back.
If you don’t like me – I won’t be here forever. If you don’t like this Government – it won’t last forever. But if you leave the United Kingdom – that will be forever.
Yes, the different parts of the UK don’t always see eye-to-eye.
Yes, we need change – and we will deliver it.
But to get that change, to get a brighter future, we don’t need to tear our country apart.
In two days’ time, this long campaign will be at an end.
And as you stand in the stillness of the polling booth, I hope you will ask yourself this.
Will my family and I truly be better off by going it alone? Will we really be more safe and secure? Do I really want to turn my back on the rest of Britain, and why is it that so many people across the world are asking: why would Scotland want to do that? Why?
And if you don’t know the answer to these questions – then please vote No.
At the end of the day, all the arguments of this campaign can be reduced to a single fact. We are better together.
So as you reach your final decision, please, please:
Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t be a proud Scot and a proud Brit. Don’t lose faith in what this country is – and what we can be. Don’t forget what a great United Kingdom you are a part of. Don’t turn your backs on what is the best family of nations in the world and the best hope for your family in this world.
So please, from all of us:
Vote to stick together.
Vote to stay.
Vote to save our United Kingdom.