Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, wants a referendum in 2014 to decide if his country should split completely from England's Parliament. Picture: Jeff Mitchell / Getty Images Source: Getty Images
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has agreed to meet Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond in a bid to resolve a row over an independence referendum, Mr Cameron's spokesman says.
"The PM has made it clear he is happy to meet Alex Salmond and arrangements for that will be made in the coming days," a Downing Street spokesman said.
Cameron has said he wants a referendum to take place as soon as possible, putting him at odds with Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP), which is eyeing a vote in 2014.
Salmond's spokesman had earlier accused Cameron of being "uncomfortable" and of trying to avoid having talks with the Scottish leader.
Michael Moore, the British minister for Scotland in the United Kingdom's London-based government, has asked to meet Salmond to discuss the clash over the vote which could break up a 305-year-old union.
The Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister "also believes the First Minister should accept the invitation to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland on Thursday to discuss his views on the consultation process."
On Wednesday, the semi-autonomous Scottish government is due to publish a consultation document on the referendum.
A constitutional clash erupted on Tuesday after Cameron's government announced that only the parliament in London had the legal power to set the terms for a referendum, and said the vote should be held as soon as possible.
Salmond hit back hours after the announcement, saying the devolved Scottish government would hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014, and on its own terms.
There is also disagreement about whether there should be a single question - London's favoured option - asking Scottish voters if they want to be "in or out", and about Salmond's wish to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.
Salmond's spokesman said there should be discussion of a third voting option branded "devo max", which would stop short of full independence and see Scotland retain ties to the UK such as shared military endeavour.
Salmond has been pushing for a referendum since elections last year, when the SNP won the first majority in the Edinburgh parliament since its formation in 1999, following devolution from the UK in 1998.
An opinion poll published in the Mail on Sunday showed that only 26 per cent of Scots backed independence from Britain. Some 29 per cent of English and Welsh people who were polled supported Scottish independence.
A poll in the Sunday Telegraph found that 40 per cent of Scots supported independence, against 43 per cent among the English who wanted Scotland out of the union.
Former British finance minister Alistair Darling, widely tipped to head the pro-Union campaign, warned in the Observer newspaper that independence would bring "immense" economic difficulties and would be an "amazing" risk.
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