Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Alex Salmond, Scotland’s nationalist first minister, said he aims to call a referendum on independence from the U.K. in the fall of 2014, a year that will see the 700th anniversary of the Scots’ defeat of the English at the Battle of Bannockburn.

He made the announcement today as Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary in the U.K.’s coalition government, set out plans to give Salmond the power to hold the vote, provided he agreed to accept limits on his powers over its timing and the wording of the question.