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Scotland's leader is unveiling detailed plans for a referendum that will ask voters whether they want to leave the United Kingdom and form an independent country.

First Minister Alex Salmond on Wednesday will outline his preferred options for the vote, to be held in the fall of 2014.

The British government insists it has the final authority to authorize a binding referendum and wants a straight "yes or no" question.

But Salmond has suggested he wants to add a third option of more Scottish autonomy, short of full independence.

Scotland and England united in 1707 to form Great Britain. Salmond argued Tuesday that splitting the 300-year-old union would be good for everyone, saying current arrangements "are not fair to Scotland, and they are not fair to England."