Britain's Catherine, Duchess Of Cambridge Arrives At Bletchley Park Near Milton Keynes In Southern England
Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes in southern England June 18, 2014. The Duchess of Cambridge visited the recently restored site where British codebreakers worked during World War II to decipher encrypted messages sent by the Germans. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Obviously worried by the surging support in favour of independence in Scotland, the British government has come out with proposals for more political and fiscal autonomy, if the Scots are ready to say "No" to separation at the referendum of Sept 18.

The New York Times reported that the promise of more powers was mooted by George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer in an interview with the BBC. George Osborne announced the plans to delegate more power will be unveiled soon. It will be in areas of tax, expenditure and welfare. The YouGov poll showed supporters of independence are gaining an upperhand clear lead in the opinion poll since the referendum campaign began.

Best Of Both Worlds

Osborne told BBC that Scotland will have the best of both worlds by avoiding the risks of separation and can enjoy better control over their destiny. Osborne is hopeful that more tax-raising powers, greater fiscal autonomy, better control over public expenditure and welfare rates would address the aspirations of Scotland.

Some polls have showed many Scots are favouring a power transfer over complete independence. Osborne said the proposed measures will be vetted by all the major parties in the British parliament. The changes will come into effect, the moment there was a "No" vote in the referendum.

Osborne's comments also echo the views of the former British prime minister and Opposition Labour party MP, Gordon Brown, who said he would spearhead a cause for devolving more powers to Scotland if it voted against independence. Scotland already enjoys a fair amount of devolved powers. The Scottish parliament became functional in 1999 and has the power to legislate on education and health.

Not A Fair Alternative

However, Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, described the outpouring of support for independence as a very significant moment. She rejected any talk of devolved powers for Scotland as an incentive to halt that aspiration. Sturgeon told Huffington Post that people will not take Osborne's offer seriously. If the UK parties had been keen to devolve more powers, something concrete would have come out, by now. The parties in Scotland are totally against the idea of including the choice of more powers as an alternative to independence on the referendum.