Former chancellor Mr Darling, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South West, is seen by many as the most credible man for the job and he has now confirmed he is ready to take it on.
His commitments at Westminster mean he cannot manage the whole anti-independence campaign, but he is willing to devote all his time to it in the months immediately before the referendum.
'I am ready to do everything I can. It is something I believe in. I am passionate about this,' Mr Darling told the Sunday Mail.
Alistair Darling believes
Alex Salmond's judgement is flawed (PA)
He plans to make a positive case for Scotland remaining part of the union, rather than rubbish Mr Salmond's claim that it could become a strong independent nation.
However, Mr Darling is prepared to point out what he views as the first minister's weaknesses, even though he described him as 'an accomplished politician'.
'That doesn't mean you have to be mesmerised by him,' said the ex-chancellor.
'One of the things is that he is happiest when he is abusing David Cameron. He is distinctly unhappy when you press him on specifics and practicalities.
'I think his judgment is wrong. This is the man who famously said he thought the Royal Bank of Scotland's bid for ABN Amro was a good thing.'
INDEPENDENCE for Scotland risks reigniting conflict in Northern Ireland, an Ulster Unionist peer has warned.
Lord Empey said that if Scotland broke away from the United Kingdom, people in Northern Ireland would have “a foreign country on one side of us and a foreign country on the other side of us”.
He told peers during a debate about the Scotland Bill: “We would end up like West Pakistan. We are all hewn from the same rock. Just imagine the situation we would be placed in.
“We have just spent decades overcoming nationalist terrorism and we gradually after years and years and years managed to settle down our community.
“I don’t wish to exaggerate but if the Scottish nationalists were to succeed it could possibly reignite the difficulties we have just managed to overcome. I do not say that lightly.”
His comments came as Tory Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, a former Scotland secretary, questioned why the Government was going ahead with the Bill, which gives additional powers to the country, when two consultations are under way on an independence referendum and the Scottish Parliament has yet to signal its consent to the legislation.
He accused Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond of proposing, in a consultation published on Wednesday, to put forward plans for a “rigged” referendum and compared him to the leaders of North Korea and Cuba.
Lord Empey
And he said that if Scotland went ahead with a referendum without consent from Westminster it would have no practical effect and be merely the “most expensive opinion poll in history”.
But Lord Empey told peers to “forget” about Mr Salmond and focus on the issue of what would happen if the UK was broken up.
He said: “We are talking about the future of over 60 million of us. We are naturally all in this together in every sense of the word.”
And he added: “I have spent many years negotiating with Irish nationalists of different shades and I have to say we have got to get the tone of the debate right.
“We should not hector or bully the Scottish people – we must not, we cannot, and if we do we do so at our peril.”
He called on supporters of the Union to emphasise the strengths and shared history of the UK.
Lord Forsyth, who put forward and later withdrew a motion to hold up the committee stage of the Bill, called for the Government to legislate to bring in a referendum that delivered a “clear and decisive” result.
And he hit out at the way Mr Salmond was preparing to set up a referendum.
He said: “The First Minister, looking at this consultation paper, has betrayed the trust that has been put in him as First Minister and appears to be putting his party’s interest in front of his country’s interest while posing as a champion of national interest.”
He added: “We have a rigged question, a rigged role for the regulator, a rigged expenses system and, on top of that, the question that there should be rigged franchise.
“He wants to give the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds. My researches tell me that there are only nine countries in the world that give the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, two of which are North Korea and Cuba – both of which also have leaders with a high opinion of themselves.”
Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, replying to the debate, said it continued to be the Government’s “very strong view” that the Scottish Parliament could not legislate for a binding referendum on independence.
He said the parties in the Lords had agreed to debate the parts of the Bill in such an order that the issue of referendums would not come up until after the end of the UK Government’s consultation on the issue on March 9.
Lord Wallace added that Lord Empey had raised “some important issues”.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband joined forces today in pledging to fight to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom, as Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told Westminster politicians to "butt out" of the debate.
The leaders of both major Westminster parties called on Mr Salmond's Scottish National Party to engage in talks over the coming weeks to pave the way for a referendum on independence.
Mr Cameron said he "passionately" believed in preserving the Union, and taunted the SNP for seeking to delay a ballot, telling MPs: "Let's have the debate and let's keep our country together."
But Mr Salmond dismissed the UK Government's argument that Scotland's Parliament has no legal power to mount its own referendum on independence.
He will unveil his own proposals before the end of this month for a referendum in the autumn of 2014.
The First Minister's plans, set for publication in the week beginning January 23, look set to put Edinburgh on collision course with London.
Addressing MPs, prime minister David Cameron said he was disappointed at the constitutional dispute over the proposed referendum on Scottish independence (Pic: PA)
Mr Salmond's office said they will include a vote for 16 and 17-year-olds and may offer voters a third "devo-max" option, under which Scotland would stay in the Union but gain greater self-determination on financial issues. Both of these features were ruled out in UK Government proposals put forward by Scotland Secretary Michael Moore.
Mr Moore called on the Scottish administration to work with the UK Government over the coming weeks to agree arrangements for a "clear, legal and decisive" referendum, which could be held within 18 months.
And Mr Cameron's spokesman indicated that this could involve talks between the Prime Minister and Mr Salmond.
The spokesman said he expected negotiations over the referendum - and the independence battle itself - to involve senior politicians from all sides of the debate, including a number of Government ministers.
He did not rule out the possibility that Mr Cameron could appear alongside Mr Miliband to argue the case for the Union, after the Prime Minister said he agreed "100%" with the Labour leader on the benefits of preserving the United Kingdom.
In a rare display of unity at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Cameron said: "This is one area where (Mr Miliband) and I are going to be 100% in agreement.
"I passionately believe in the future of our United Kingdom. I passionately believe we are stronger together rather than breaking apart.
"Frankly, I am sad we are even having this debate, because I support the United Kingdom so strongly, but we have to respect the fact that Scotland voted for a separatist party at the Scottish parliamentary elections."
Mr Miliband said: "We on this side of the House believe the United Kingdom benefits the people of Scotland and the people of the rest of the United Kingdom in equal measure.
"We are stronger together and weaker apart."
Mr Cameron said he was "looking forward" to the debate, and mocked the SNP for seeking to delay the poll until 2014, telling MPs: "I sometimes think when I listen to them that it is not a referendum they want, it's a never-endum."
Asked whether the PM would be willing to share a platform with Mr Miliband, Mr Cameron's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is keen to make the case for the Union and you saw at Prime Minister's Questions that he is keen to work with the opposition on this."
Mr Salmond said the Prime Minister should "butt out" of an issue for Scottish people and said his intervention had provoked a "huge adverse reaction... to the Thatcheresque idea that Downing Street knows best".
He had "no objection" to Mr Moore's proposals for Westminster to help Holyrood stage a referendum, but said there was "plenty of legal authority" for the Scottish Government to mount its own ballot without assistance from south of the border.
Mr Salmond told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The objection, of course, is that the Prime Minister has started to put all sorts of London-based strings on."
He said: "Our conditions are quite clear: this must be a referendum built and run in Scotland, accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It has to be run fairly and transparently, of course, but we won't accept unreasonable conditions placed by London on how Scotland should run the poll."
Mr Salmond's office confirmed the Scottish Government's position that 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral register in Scotland should be "fully entitled to vote" in any referendum. Asked if voters would be offered a third "devo-max" option, a spokesman said: "We're not for closing down choice."
Alex Salmond has insisted his plans for an independence vote in the autumn of 2014 are legal - despite Westminster saying his Scottish Government does not have the power to stage such a ballot.
The Scottish First Minister announced his preferred date last night for a vote on whether or not the country should remain part of the UK.
That came just over an hour after Scottish Secretary Michael Moore offered to temporarily extend Holyrood's powers so it could hold an independence ballot - if certain conditions are met.
The two administrations now appear to be on a collision course over the staging of a vote on Scotland's future.
When he announced his plans to the Commons yesterday, Mr Moore said: "To legislate for a referendum on independence, the Scottish Parliament must have the legal power to do so. It is the Government's clear view that the Scottish Parliament doesn't have that legal power."
But when asked today if his plans were legal, Mr Salmond said: "Yes, we believe so."
He accused Westminster of trying to interfere in Scottish affairs, and said the Prime Minister should "butt out".
The coalition Government has proposed using a Section 30 order to temporarily extend Holyrood's powers, enabling it to deliver a referendum.
The Scottish National Party leader told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme he had "no objection" to this, but added: "The objection, of course, is that the Prime Minister has started to put all sorts of London-based strings on."
Mr Salmond said there was "plenty of legal authority" to support Scottish Government proposals to stage its own ballot.
The Scottish Secretary refused to say today if the UK Government would mount a legal challenge to any referendum staged by the SNP administration, but he said that the Nationalists' plans "run the risk somewhere along the line of legal challenges".
Mr Salmond hit out at UK ministers and said: "The Prime Minister came in with his size 10 boots and started to put all sorts of strings and conditions, and basically wanted to pull the strings of Scotland's referendum."
He said there had been a "huge adverse reaction" north of the border to "the Thatcheresque idea that Downing Street knows best".
The First Minister continued: "Our conditions are quite clear: this must be a referendum built and run in Scotland, accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It has to be run fairly and transparently, of course, but we won't accept unreasonable conditions placed by London on how Scotland should run the poll."
The order proposed by Westminster would require any referendum to take place under the oversight of the Electoral Commission, with a single ballot paper offering voters the choice between independence or remaining part of the UK.
Those registered to vote in Scottish parliamentary elections would be entitled to take part.
But the SNP has previously suggested an independence referendum could be opened up to those aged 16 and 17, with Mr Salmond saying today: "If you're having a vote on Scotland's future, 16 and 17-year-olds on the electoral roll have a stake in the future of the country."
