BETTER Together leader Alistair Darling opened a new campaign office in Galashiels at the weekend - just across the street from the constituency office of the local SNP MSP.

And then warned his supporters they would have to campaign like the nationalists if they want to keep Scotland part of the United Kingdom following the independence referendum on September 18.

The new office - at number two, the High Street, Galashiels - is decorated with “No thanks” posters and is the new headquarters for the Better Together campaign in the south of Scotland.

Addressing supporters at the official opening on Saturday, Darling, who was welcomed by Borders MP Michael Moore, said: “This is the ninth office that we’ve opened in the last few weeks, we’ve now got offices in every part of Scotland. People are coming together because we are now about to enter the crucial part of the campaign.

“Just a few miles from here is a border between Scotland and England but, although it is a border and we know it and we stop and we admire it, it isn’t a real border in the sense that you don’t have stop and get your passport out.

“Towns like Galashiels depend on cross border trade and it would be absolutely absurd in this day and age to create a border where there is none.” But he added: “If you are a nationalist you will be at the polling station at seven o clock on the morning of the 18th if you haven’t already voted by post, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the same determination because this is about the future of our country. “This isn’t like a general election when you vote in the government and if you don’t like them you can put them out in five years time, this is forever. If we make the wrong decision there is no going back.” There was no sign of the nationalist MSP at her office on Saturday. However, the Yes campaign did set up two stalls just around the corner in Channel Street and Market Square, as well as next to the Better Together stand at the Border Union Show where Mr Darling visited later in the day.

Also in attendance was Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment. When asked if Christine Grahame MSP would be worried about her new neighbours, he said: “Well, it’s not offices that are going to win this campaign in September, it’s going to be the arguments - the case for Yes and the case for No.”