EX-LABOUR chancellor Alistair Darling spoke yesterday of his “increasing confidence” that Scotland will reject independence as voting gets under way in the historic referendum.

More than 600,000 people who registered for a postal vote will receive their ballot papers today.

And Better Together campaign leader Mr Darling admitted he is prepared for a “fight right down to the wire.”

But he insisted the British union will remain intact when polling closes at 10pm on September 18.

“If you look at all the evidence, all the polls that have been published for the last few months, they consistently show us with a lead, most of them a double-digit lead,” said Mr Darling.

“I’m not complacent — a lot can happen in the next three weeks — but we have momentum.”

His prediction came despite his setback in Monday night’s independence debate broadcast to millions across Britain on the BBC.

Mr Darling again attacked Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond over his plans to retain the pound in a currency union after independence. It was the SNP leader’s weakness in the last televised debate.

But extra preparation on the issue by Mr Salmond paid dividends as he turned the tables on his opponent.

Pressed on whether Scotland would be denied use of the pound, Mr Darling accepted: ‘‘Of course we can use the pound.”

Mr Salmond also won applause from the audience at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum as he accused Mr Darling of being a “front man for the Conservative Party” that is wrecking the NHS.

A poll of 500 viewers by ICM for the Guardian gave the debate to Mr Salmond by 71 per cent to 29 per cent.

The Yes campaign tried to press home its upswing by calling on the “missing million” voters to register and vote to protect the NHS. “Those who depend most on the NHS are waking up to the real threat posed by a No vote,” said Yes campaign chief executive Blair Jenkins.

People have until midnight on Tuesday September 2 to register to vote.