Dundee returned the highest proportion of Yes votes of any area in Scotland in the 2014 independence referendum, with 53,620 Yes votes to 39,880 No votes. It was among only four local authority areas that backed independence. In Summer 2014, First Minister Alex Salmond said Dundee was moving "towards being Scotland's Yes city", and it retained that designation in the run-up to the referendum. Housing schemes in Dundee canvassed by Yes activists indicated levels of support of up to 80 per cent in favour of independence.