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”
Robin Tilbrook
England
supports the Union | Left Foot Forward
Dear Sir
Re: Your article
In this article you have reported
claims from a selectively and partially leaked opinion poll which was conducted
last year by a group that has constantly downplayed nationalist sentiment and
which purports to find that support for Scottish Independence has been dropping
in England.
I sincerely doubt the validity of
this poll. Not only are its proponents predominantly of the partisan Labour
supporting variety but also it was conducted last year when the limited coverage
of the Independence Debate which our pro-British, pro-Unionist biased “national”
media gave us here in England was a drum-roll of almost entirely pro-Union and
anti-Alex Salmond, anti-SNP propaganda damning to anyone who is
pro-independence.
Also there is a persistent and
dishonest insistence here in England that Scotland could “leave” the UK, but
that the UK could continue. This is patent nonsense but it does make English
people think that they might be stuck in a Union with those subsidy junkies,
Wales and Northern Ireland! With this threat implicit no wonder any English
Taxpayer would blench!
In fact, of course, if Scotland
decides to “go” it can only do so upon the repeal of the Act of Union of 1707
which merged the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the new “United Kingdom
of Great Britain”. For the mathematically minded the formula therefore is E + S
= GB ergo GB – S = E. Simples?
Yours faithfully
Robin
Tilbrook
Chairman,
The English
Democrats
Blog: http://robintilbrook.blogspot.co.uk/
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Profile: http://www.facebook.com/robin.tilbrook
Party Tel: 0207 242
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Twitter: @RobinTilbrook
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Website: http://www.englishdemocrats.org
English Democrats’ FB
Page: http://www.facebook.com/robin.tilbrook#!/www.EngDem.org
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Key facts about the
English Democrats
The English Democrats
launched in 2002.
The English Democrats
are the English nationalist Party. We campaign for a referendum for Independence
for England; for St George’s Day to be England’s National holiday; for Jerusalem
to be England’s National Anthem; to leave the EU; for an end to mass
immigration; for the Cross of St George to be flown on all public buildings in
England; and we support a YES vote for Scottish Independence.
The English
Democrats are England’s answer to the Scottish National Party and Plaid
Cymru. The English Democrats’ greatest electoral successes to date include:- in
the 2004 EU election we had 130,056 votes; winning the Directly Elected
Executive Mayoralty of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council in 2009 and also
the 2012 referendum; in the 2009 EU election we gained 279,801 votes after a
total EU campaign spend of less than £25,000; we won the 2012 referendum which
gave Salford City an Elected Mayor; in 2012 we also saved all our deposits in
the Police Commissioner elections and came second in South Yorkshire; and in the
2014 EU election we had 126,024 votes for a total campaign spend of about
£30,000 (giving the English Democrats by far the most cost efficient electoral
result of any serious Party in the UK).
uglyfatbloke
Robin – repealing the Acts of Union (there are two) is not an issue at all; do you by any chance refer to dissolving the Treaty of Union?
The Acts of Union in the English and Scottish parliaments were essentially a means of allowing the Treaty to go ahead. The English act has no relevance in Scotland and the Scottish act has no relevance in England.
Leon Wolfeson
Of course separatists support separatism, got any more obvious news?
Keep denying international law about the status of the UK as well, denying the sovereignty of Parliament, etc.
Leon Wolfeson
“I don’t think polling is all that reliable for the referendum.”
Oh please.
uglyfatbloke
‘Oh please’ what? The range is pretty wide and ‘Scotland only’ polling has been known to be quite wide of the mark in the past. At the last Holyrood election re we to accept that the gnats turned around their polling from 15% behind to 12% ahead during the campaign or do we think it’s possible that there were issues with the polling…which apparently is what John Curtice thinks and he’s pretty well-informed about Scottish polls. .