Our petition, To Scotland with Love, is still gathering support. A huge thanks to all those who have signed since our last update. The more recent petition from Let’s Stay Together (www.letsstaytogether.org.uk) has, with celebrity backing, gained many more signatures - and that’s fantastic. But the opinion polls for the Scottish referendum have narrowed significantly in recent weeks. There is now a real risk that we could find that some 2m Scottish Yes votes lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom, one of the most successful partnerships in history. The sense of British identity would then be on an inevitable road to redundancy. So for those of us who love the Union, those who feel it would be a tragedy for it to end, it’s time to speak up. • It’s time to speak up for the values shared by Scotland and the other parts of the UK. • It’s time to speak up for the rights of the 800,000 Scots in other parts of the UK who have no vote on their future. • It’s time to tell Scots again and again that we love them and their country, and that we want them to stay in our great family. • It’s time to share our feeling that what we have in common across the UK is far more important than that which might sometimes divide us. So, it really is now the moment for those of us who love the Union to express our feelings to friends and relations in Scotland, and to use our networks and media contacts to encourage other people outside Scotland to speak up too before it is too late. We have in the UK something which is precious, something which cannot be replaced if Scotland separates. None of us wants to wake up on 19 September and find that part of our soul has been lost. So it is time to speak up for the Union – now