The Yes campaign is ahead in the independence referendum for the first time, according to a new poll.
The bombshell YouGov poll showed 51% supported independence with 49% against, once undecideds were excluded.
With undecideds included, support for Yes was running at 47% against 46% for No, with 7% of those polled still to make up their minds.
It comes days after two separate polls by Survation and YouGov showed Yes gaining ground on the No camp when the gap closed to just six points, at 47% for Yes and 53% for No.
Tweeting about the latest poll, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said it reflected "worldwide disillusion with political leaders and old establishments", adding that Scottish independence would deliver a "huge black eye for the whole political establishment, especially Miliband and Cameron". Murdoch also said he felt independence was "sure to happen".
There were indications of a fightback from unionists, however, with reports emerging that Scots will be offered a "radical new deal" by Westminster if they vote to remain in the UK, and calls for a more federal style of government across Britain.
Better Together chairman Alistair Darling last night tweeted: "These polls can and must now serve as a wake-up call to anyone who thought the #indyref result was a foregone conclusion."
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband will reportedly today issue a warning that manned border posts along the Scotland-England border cannot be ruled out if Scotland becomes independent.
Deputy First Minister and Yes Scotland advisory board member Nicola Sturgeon said of the new lead for Yes: "This breakthrough poll shows that Yes has the big momentum - with support for Yes growing particularly strongly among Labour voters and women - but we still have work to do if we are to win. Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
"More and more people are beginning to realise that a Yes vote is Scotland's one opportunity to make that enormous wealth work better for everybody who lives here, create more jobs, and protect vital services such as the NHS from the damaging effects of Westminster privatisation."
Last night, another poll also showed that support for independence among women had risen to a record level, with undecided female voters surging towards Yes. After months in which support for Yes among women has been consistently lower than among men, the Panelbase survey found the gender gap had almost closed, with near-identical levels of support for independence among both sexes.
When undecideds were stripped out, support among women for Yes stood at 47%, and among men at 48%. Support among Labour voters stood at 31% once undecideds were excluded.
With just 11 days left until the historic vote on Scotland's future, Yes Scotland, which commissioned the Panelbase poll, hailed that as "exceptionally positive and encouraging". Panelbase also found that once undecided voters were stripped out, overall support for Yes stood at 48% with No on 52%.
Reacting to the Panelbase poll, Sturgeon said: "This is an exceptionally positive and encouraging poll ... with record support for independence among women … There is no doubt that as women weigh up the issues - particularly the need for the powers of independence to protect Scotland's NHS, to put bairns before bombs by transforming childcare and getting rid of Trident - they are choosing Yes in significantly increasing numbers.
"The poll also shows that around one in three Labour voters already plan to vote Yes, and we believe that can become a majority by a week on Thursday. Yes still has a lot of work to do to win … but we approach the final days with huge enthusiasm and confidence."
The poll also found 69% of voters agreed that, regardless of the outcome, Scots could be proud of deciding the country's future in a referendum.
Sturgeon added: "A challenge for all of us is to unite as a country once the decision is made, and do everything we can to maintain this boost in democratic participation."
Better Together campaign director Blair McDougall said: "With just days to go we won't take a single vote for granted. People are looking at the risks of separation for our pound, pensions and NHS and are saying no thanks.
"We are just 11 days from the biggest decision we will ever take, yet we still have no idea what currency our wages, pensions and benefits would be paid in or what money we would use to fund our NHS. That's a risk we don't have to take."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article