It’s been a proud day for Swindon to see the first group of young people begin their studies at our new University Technical College.

The fantastic campus at the heart of the Railway Village represents a £10m investment both in our town and our next generation.

UTCs are a new concept in education, taking youngsters aged 14 to 19 and specialising in engineering and technical skills. Crucially, the curriculum and design of the College are intended to make it feel more like a workplace than a series of classrooms. For instance, the traditional school day is out: a day at the UTC will start at 8.30am and finish at 5pm. Students will be grouped into ‘learning companies’ where they will work together in teams, just as in professional life. There are also close links with employers to ensure a clear pathway from education into the world of work. Indeed, the UTC wouldn’t have happened without the support of one major local employer, Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, as well as co-sponsor Oxford Brookes University and Swindon Borough Council.

UTCs are publicly funded and are opening in several areas of the country. How fitting that Swindon, with its proud railway history, should be home to one of them. I am sure it will have a bright future.

l On a separate matter, tomorrow is polling day in the Scottish Independence Referendum. I am a unionist through and through. I am a proud Welshman by birth, but my home is in England and I am equally proud to be British. That’s why the Prime Minister’s words on Monday really struck a chord with me. David Cameron quite rightly appealed to the hearts of the Scottish people not to break up the United Kingdom. Scottish independence would be a divorce, not a trial separation. It would, as he put it, “break up our family of nations and rip Scotland from the rest of the UK”.

As that message starts to hit home, I have had a great many emails from people in South Swindon who are concerned about the outcome of the vote. One question that’s often asked is why people in England aren’t having a say, since the result affects the whole of the UK. I have some sympathy for that concern. There are various legal precedents and legislative reasons why the referendum has been framed in this way. But this isn’t the time for a dry, legalistic debate. It’s now about hearts and minds. The referendum is going ahead and in 48 hours we’ll know the result. I really hope that the United Kingdom will not be split apart. I truly believe that we are, to coin a phrase, better together.