PRO independence campaigners in the Borders have expressed their fears to Lord Smith over the probability of broken promises.

Yes Scottish Borders conducted a survey of 800 voters.

And they found that the vast majority don’t trust the Better Together parties to deliver on the new powers promises.

Details of the survey have now been sent to Lord Smith of Kelvin, who is chairing the Commission tasked with introducing further powers for the Scottish Parliament.

In the letter, Chair of Yes Scottish Borders Calum Kerr, states: “When your Commission was set up and sought the views of not just the political parties, but the people of Scotland, we endeavoured to carry out a survey to help provide you with a perspective from the people of our region.

“Our results were gathered from across the Scottish Borders through street stalls, leaflet drops, door to door canvassing and through an online survey tool. From the responses it is clear that there is overwhelming support for increased powers for Scotland, and a clear view that these were indeed promised in advance of the vote.” The survey shows 83 per cent (676 out of 813 respondents) believe that 'the vow’ made by the UK parties to devolve new powers to the Scottish Government will not be honoured.

Mr Kerr’s letter added: “Your, (Lord Smith) unenviable challenge is to prove the majority of those surveyed, who believe that the promise will not be honoured, wrong and hold the Westminster political parties to account.” The Yes Borders survey, which was undertaken throughout October, shows that the most popular new powers that could be devolved would be Income Tax (87 per cent), Welfare, Pensions and Employment, and Equality Law.

Over 14,000 letters and emails from the public were submitted to the Smith Commission ahead of Friday’s deadline.

There have also been over 250 submissions from organisations and institutions.

Lord Smith (pictured left on his recent visit to Peebles) has also conducted his own tour of Scotland to harness opinion.

Lord Smith said: “When I accepted the invitation to lead the Commission I was determined to make sure that the public and Scotland’s civic institutions would have the chance to have their say.

“I believe we have undertaken a broad ranging programme which has been as extensive as it was possible to achieve in the time available.

“I have been delighted by the response and want to thank the many individuals and organisations who worked hard to make substantial and thoughtful submissions. “The political parties will have the chance to reflect on these submissions before any decisions are made. They will be given full access to all submissions and we will shortly hold a dedicated session of all-party talks to discuss them.”