SCOTS in Dorset have said they are hoping for a “resounding” No vote in this week’s independence referendum.

Scottish residents go to the polls on Thursday to decide whether or not they remain a part of the United Kingdom – established in 1707 by the union of the English and Scottish governments.

Although hundreds of miles from the land of their birth, many Scots have made Dorset their home. Most told the Daily Echo they would vote No if they had the chance.

Bournemouth Councillor Andrew Morgan, who has lived in the town since 1994, said: “Many Scots, like me, live in the south and have friends and family back in Scotland – we are all British. I think this country is defined by the sea not by nationality. There is more that joins us than divides us. And if they vote to leave it will be forever.”

Ian Crockard, manager of national licensing consultancy firm Innpacked, said he hoped for a “resounding” No.

“I was born in Britain, I don’t see being Scottish and British as incompatible, and I am facing the prospect of going to bed in my own country and waking up the next day a foreigner,” he said.

“I am passionately Scottish, but I don’t like nationalism. This has been a successful union. When you have disagreements you deal with them, you don’t leave the family.”

Bournemouth’s MPs unsurprisingly backed the Union. Tobias Ellwood said: “Our message to the Scottish people must be ‘We want you to stay, the United Kingdom is better together’.

“The choice is clear – a leap into the dark with a Yes vote, or a brighter future for Scotland by voting No and standing tall, forging a more secure and prosperous future together.”

Conor Burns pointed out that he had joined the Conservative and Unionist Party and said he was a “passionate” believer in the Union.

“We are better together than we would be apart,” he said.

However he said that, should the No vote win this week, he would be eager to settle the so-called West Lothian Question by “re-balancing” voting rights in the House of Commons.