THE elderly did not rob the young of an independent Scotland, according to YouGov's final poll of how Scotland voted in the independence referendum.

Their study of 3,188 voters showed that 51 per cent of those aged between 16 and 24 voted No. It also revealed that more than one in five SNP supporters turned their backs on independence.

The breakdown has come from YouGov's referendum night poll that predicted a No win with 54 per cent of the vote. Some 55.3 per cent voted against independence in the official vote.

A post-referendum poll of 2,000 conducted by Lord Ashcroft said that 71 per cent of 16-17-year-olds and 48 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted Yes giving ammunition to Yes supporters that the young were being deprived of an independent Scotland by their older peers.

However, only 14 people in that age group responded to the survey.

The YouGov poll found:

l Only eight per cent of Tory voters supported independence while 27 per cent of Labour supporters and 29 per cent of Liberal Democrats said Yes.

l Out of five age groups only the 25-39-year-olds supported a Yes with 55 per cent backing independence.

l The biggest supporters of No were voters over 65, with two in every three preferring to stay within the United Kingdom.

l Some 55 per cent of 60-65-year-olds and 53 per cent of 40-59-year-olds backed Better Together.

l A total of 74 per cent of those voters who were born elsewhere in the UK voted No. Some 51 per cent of Scots-born voters supported independence.

The poll also found twice as many voters said Yes campaign activists at polling stations were acting unreasonably, at six per cent, to No's three per cent.

The decision to allow the 16 and 17-year-olds to have the vote in the referendum was hailed by outgoing First Minister Alex Salmond in his concession speech. He declared the involvement of Scotland's youngest voters in the referendum a "resounding success".