Scotland votes No to independence
Scotland has voted to stay in the United Kingdom with the No campaign polling 55.3% of the votes and Yes on 44.7%.
Despite winning a majority of votes in some areas - including the nation's largest city Glasgow - the Yes campaign failed to secure enough support to win the historic referendum.
There were 2,001,926 votes for the No campaign and 1,617,989 votes for Yes, a majority of 383,937.
Shortly after 6.15am Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond told Yes supporters in Edinburgh: "It is important to say that our referendum was an agreed and consented process and Scotland has by a majority decided not at this stage to become an independent country.
"I accept that verdict of the people and I call on all of Scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland."
He called on the main unionist parties to make good on their promises of greater powers being devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Salmond thanked 1.6 million Scottish voters for voting for independence and said Scotland "shall go forward as one nation".
Speaking outside Downing Street shortly after 7am, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "The people of Scotland have spoken and it is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together and like millions of other people I am delighted.
"It was right that we respected the SNP's majority in Holyrood and gave the Scottish people the right to have their say,
"It is time for our United Kingdom to come together and move forward."
Mr Cameron credited both sides of the debate for a "hard fought campaign" and he pledged: "We have delivered on devolution and we will do so in the next parliament. We will ensure that those commitments are honoured in full."
The Prime Minister said that Lord Smith of Kelvin, chairman of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, would oversee the process of further devolution and that draft laws on new powers for Scotland would be published by January.
Earlier Mr Salmond's deputy Nicola Sturgeon conceded defeat with a handful of results still to be declared.
The Deputy First Minister said there was a " real sense of disappointment that we have fallen narrowly short of securing a Yes vote".
Glasgow voted in favour of independence by 194,779 to 169,347 - with Dundee, West Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire also voting Yes. But the capital Edinburgh rejected independence by 194,638 votes to 123,927.
