DHAKA: United States president Barack Obama suggested that Scotland would be better off as part of Britain, and urged the British to stay in the European Union.

Stepping into a febrile debate over Scotland’s independence referendum on September 18, Obama said the decision was ‘up to the people of Scotland’.

But at a joint news conference with British prime minister David Cameron at the end of the G7 summit in Brussels, Obama said there was a positive case for staying together.

‘From the outside at least it looks like things have worked pretty well,’ Obama said.

‘And we obviously have a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies that we will ever have remains a strong, robust, united and effective partner,’ he said.

‘But ultimately these are decisions that will be made by the folks there."

Obama also made a fresh appeal on the subject of Britain’s EU membership, on which Cameron has promised a referendum in 2017.

BDST: 0149 HRS, JUNE 06, 2014