REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, EDINBURGH - Scotland will hold its independence referendum on September 18, 2014, First Minister Alex Salmond said on Thursday, starting the countdown to a vote he hopes will take his nation of 5 million out of the United Kingdom.

Salmond's pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) won a majority in the Scottish parliament in May 2011 elections, giving the charismatic politician what he has called a "once-in-a-generation" chance to break ties with London. But the SNP faces an uphill battle to win the referendum, with opinion polls putting support for independence at about 30 percent of the electorate in Scotland while about 50 percent favor the status quo.

The SNP complains that the British parliament, where members representing Scotland are a small minority because England has a much bigger population of 53 million, does not have the particular interests of the Scottish people at heart.

"A yes vote means a future where we can be certain, 100 percent certain, that the people of Scotland will get the government that they vote for," Salmond told the Scottish parliament in a speech announcing the date of the referendum.

The SNP argues that North Sea Oil revenues combined with the local farming, fishing and whisky industries would enable an independent Scotland to prosper. But other parties in Edinburgh and the London government say both Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom would lose out. Critics of the SNP say oil reserves are dwindling and Scotland would lose the disproportionately generous share of taxpayer money raised across Britain that it currently receives.

Scottish secession would pose serious challenges to the remainder of the United Kingdom, such as what to do about its Trident nuclear submarine fleet which is based in Scotland. There would also be big uncertainties for Scotland itself, such as whether it would be allowed to remain part of the European Union or whether it would have to negotiate re-entry.

The broad terms of the referendum were agreed by Salmond and British Prime Minister David Cameron last October. Voters will be asked a single question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

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