THE Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, has said it would be a "huge mistake" if Scottish people vote to become independent from the United Kingdom in today's historic referendum vote.

Chris Grayling was in Bolton this morning to meet with lawyers in a discussion about proposed changes to the legal system, but took time out to urge voters north of the border to avoid a tragedy" by breaking up the union.

He said: "We derive much more as a nation by being a union, we would be poorer without Scotland in my view, not in financial terms but in terms of culture and community and we all hope very much that they don’t chose to go their separate ways.

“I think from Scotland’s point of view it is a big walk into the unknown, there are all kinds of issues that simply haven’t been addressed by those arguing for independence.

"I personally think it (independence) will be a huge mistake for Scotland and the wrong thing for the United Kingdom, it will be a tragedy for what is something special — four nations that have come together and worked well for hundreds of years.”

Polling stations in Scotland will be open from 7am until 10pm today and 97 per cent of the country's population will be eligible to cast a vote to either become an independent country or remain a part of the United Kingdom.

It is thought that the results of the referendum could be known as early as 7am on tomorrow morning.