There has been a noticeable decline in support within England for Scotland going it alone.
As parties north of the border mark 100 days until Scotland’s independence referendum, new survey data has revealed a noticeable decline in support within England for Scotland going it alone.
According to new polling published as part of the British Social Attitudes Survey conducted last year, 21 per cent of those in England believe Scotland should be independent, compared to the high watermark of 26 per cent who support this in 2011, the year that the SNP secured an historic overall majority at Holyrood.
The debate meanwhile over Scotland’s position within the Union has done little to change the minds of those in England about how they wish to be governed, with 56 per cent believing it should continue as now with laws made by the UK Parliament – the same figure recorded as for 2012 and 2011.
15 per cent support the idea of directly elected regional assemblies, whilst 19 per cent have backed the idea of a purely English Parliament, mirroring those in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
Commenting on the findings, the report’s author, Professor John Curtice has said:
“Some have argued that a backlash has been developing south of the border against the advantages that Scotland seemingly enjoys and the demands it continues to make.
“But rather than being fuelled by the independence debate, whatever signs there were of such a reaction have apparently been snuffed out.
“England at least seems to have decided that the union is worth preserving, though whether people in Scotland will take the same view remains to be seen.”
The findings come as Andy Murray has expressed his frustration at Alex Salmond having waved the Scottish flag after his Wimbledon victory last year.
Murray, who last year called on Scots to us their heads rather than their hearts when deciding how to vote in September, told the Sunday Times style magazine over the weekend when asked about the first minister’s actions on centre court:
“He seemed perfectly nice to me but I didn’t like it when he [Salmond] got the Scottish flag up at Wimbledon.”
He added:
“I started competing for Great Britain when I was 11. I’m 27 now and I’ve been competing for Great Britain for 16 years.”
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18 Responses to “England supports the Union”
swatnan
The polls are not telling the true story that the majority of England would like to be free of the whinging Scots. And the majority of Scots would like to throw off the sghackles of being bound to England when they have in fact when you really do delve into the issue very little empathy with the English, and would like to stand on their own feet, so there is no one else to blame if it all goes pearshaped. The Scots have more in common with Scandinavia than the English and the Continent of Europe if the truth be told. Scottish history and culture has largely been written out of the textbooks these days and it would be good to see their rich heritage once again take the centre stage even in Edinburgh and Glasgow..
Leon Wolfeson
Polling shows…nope, not a majority.
uglyfatbloke
I don’t think polling is all that reliable for the referendum. I’m told that there are some (minor) methodological issues around sampling and weighting, though I’m not convinced that is enough to explain the marked differences between polls. The gap between BT and Yes has narrowed somewhat, but It’s still the case that there is a very healthy lead for BT, OTH there are some voters – maybe quite a lot – who would like independence but can’t bear Salmond at any price who might change their minds.
Satnam….Scottish history…very few Scots have any grasp of their history at all. There’s not much of it in schools and what there is is almost all appalling. The scholarship of the past 40/50 years or so is very good indeed, but the academics can’t reach the wider audience so Scots are pretty much stuck in a mindset of Victorian antiquarianism which portrays pre-Union Scotland as a sort of poor relation/troublesome little sister to England.
swatnan
Good point about some Scots like Brown and Darling and Danny Alexander going ‘native, having spent too much time indulging in the Westminster Village. Let the Scots have their independence and be more assertive, and proud to be Scot, and not an anglcised version of a Scot.
uglyfatbloke
I think it’s not so much ‘going native’ as the fact that they have all spent their lives trying to become part of the political class and in doing so have lost all contact with planet earth-.or at least the people who live on it. Of course they meet some of their constituents from time to time, but generally only in rather peculiar circumstances. Most of the ‘locals’ that they meet are part of the Party family and won’t rock the boat. You may get to meet your MP, but it does n’t matter how sound a point you might, make, you’ll never change his or her mind because they think only in terms of the party line. They respond to ‘us’ in the same way as they respond to Paxman or Neill…just keep repeating he mantra/buzzwords of the moment. That’s why we are all ‘hard-working families punching above our weight in a cost of living crisis that was cased by the last government…or this government…or the next government….or Europe….or Rotarians. ….
Looking (if we must) at Danny Alexander, it would be a great help to Better Together if he’d just stop saying anything at all. The electorate really are n’t as stupid as he clearly thinks we are.