A secret indyref poll in 2014 "Yes 4% in advance"

A secret opinion poll held a few days before the referendum on the independence of Scotland in 2014 had caused a "panic" among non-activists, according to a new documentary.

According to the internal survey conducted for the UK government, the "Yes" campaign is advancing by four percentage points.

In the documentary also, Allan Little, former broadcaster of the BBC, criticizes the attitude of some of his London-based colleagues vis-à-vis the independence.

BBC director Ken MacQuarrie said the company has done its job professionally.

"Something was moving"

The third part of the documentary series Yes / No: Inside the Indyref, which will air on BBC Scotland on Tuesday, retraces the final days of the 2014 campaign.

The no campaign finally won the referendum from 55% to 45%.

Better Together, which was fighting for Scotland to stay in the UK, had started the two and a half year campaign with 20 points ahead of the polls.

But as election day on September 18 approached, the result was too close to be called.

Douglas Alexander, a Labor MP and Better Together senior official, told the program that "something was changing".

According to Andrew Dunlop, special advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron, the government was so concerned that he conducted his own daily poll.

On Friday, September 5, less than two weeks before polling day, his secret results indicated that the advance for the Yes campaign was four points.

It was the same day that a YouGov poll had been received by the Sunday Times, showing that Yes was conducting polls for the first time from 51% to 49%.

According to Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, "all panicked" in the "overwhelming panic".

Although Ms. Davidson advised everyone to "keep her cool," plans were developed at the highest levels to completely change the approach of the campaign.

George Osborne, who was Chancellor at the time, participated in Andrew Marr 's television show Sunday morning to announce a plan of action to give more powers to the party. Scotland on taxation, spending and social protection.

The documentary also talks to Nick Robinson, who was the political editor of the BBC at the time.

He had a very controversial dispute with Alex Salmond, who was at the time the prime minister of Scotland and the leader of the SNP, about his plans for a Royal Bank of Scotland plan to to move its seat in England in case of a favorable vote.

The two men had a long exchange at a press conference and Robinson claimed in his article that Mr. Salmond "did not answer" the question.

Robinson told the Yes / No program: "In the end, it was a subjective point of view as to whether or not he answered the question correctly.

"It was not a smart script line – in truth, if I had the chance to do it, I would have rewritten it."

Broadcaster Allan Little of the BBC, who grew up in southwestern Scotland and worked for the company for over 30 years at the time of the referendum, told the program that he was surprised at the lack of knowledge of some London residents about this moment.

Little, who was the BBC's referendum correspondent, said, "I know how much my colleagues in London are striving to do things right.

"It's in the DNA when you're a journalist at the BBC.

"I am not cynical about this, but I was quite surprised by some of my colleagues who did not understand their own hypothesis that the Yes camp was wrong."

He added that some colleagues thought "that our responsibility was to produce a series of pieces demonstrating how foolish it would be to vote yes".

Ken MacQuarrie, who was director of BBC Scotland, told the program that BBC journalists "have left behind" their own opinions during their reporting.

He said: "People were doing professional work as much as possible in all the situations they were in."

Yes / No: Inside Indyref, aired on BBC Scotland Tuesday at 22:00, all three episodes will be available on the BBC iplayer.