17 per cent of adults say they would consider leaving Scotland if it opted for independence.
17 per cent of adults say they would consider leaving Scotland if it opted for independence
New polling conducted by Panelbase for the Sunday Times and Heart Radio in Scotland has found that 17 per cent of adults would think about leaving the country should it opt for independence.
In contrast, 5 per cent of voters said they would consider emigrating in the event of the country rejecting independence, with 73 per cent saying they plan to stay regardless of the outcome.
The survey data also put support for independence at 41 per cent, up 1 per cent since Panelbases’ last poll for the Sunday Times and Heart Radio published in May. The No vote was also up 1 per cent to 48 per cent, with 11 per cent still undecided how they will vote.
Excluding undecided voters, those supporting independence are on 46 per cent while 54 per cent reject it.
Responding, campaign director for the Better Together Campaign Blair McDougall dubbed the poll a ‘blow’ to the First Minister. He explained:
“This poll is a blow to Alex Salmond’s faltering campaign and makes clear that the momentum is with those of us saying no thanks to separation.
“The closer we get to the referendum the more people are thinking seriously about the consequences of independence for the pound, pensions and our public services.”
In contrast, the Yes Scotland Campaign used the poll to argue that the country is now within touching distance of independence. It’s chief executive, Blair Jenkins commented:
“Support for Yes is solid and as we move into the final eight weeks of the campaign we will be working hard to continue the flow of undecided voters to our side.
“What this poll confirms is that, in spite of a renewed barrage of scaremongering and relentless negativity from the ‘no’ camp and Westminster government, we are in touching distance of success on September 18. We need just over a four-point swing to put us in front.”
But Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University concluded that the findings were bad news for those wanting independence. Writing for the ‘What Scotland Thinks’ website, he wrote:
“The opinion polls may of course all be wrong. But if Scotland is to vote in favour of independence on 18 September then one would expect at least a few polls to put Yes ahead at some point before polling day. And no poll would seem more likely to record a Yes lead than Panelbase, who have consistently produced the most optimistic polling numbers for the Yes side and which last month (in a poll for the Yes campaign itself) put Yes on the cusp of being ahead with a 48 per cent vote (once the Don’t Knows are excluded).
“But any hopes that Yes might have had that, following its last poll, Panelbase would next time around finally record a breakthrough for the pro-independence side are dashed in the company’s poll for today’s Sunday Times.”
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34 Responses to “Will the last person to leave Scotland please turn out the lights”
cgdean2012
Really … All Scottish politicians are squeaky clean ??? Quite a few Scottish politicians work for Labour, Conservatives etc. As much as I don’t like Cameron i would not want Salmond running my country. What you will get is more of the same or potentially worse austerity with a Scottish accent behind the man wielding the axe !!!
subtleknife666
Hmm.
Do you think the Labour Party of an independent Scotland would continue to follow the Thatcherite line of the Westminster gang? I doubt it. Scots are much more likely to vote for progressives, and the influence of the fascist and racist London gutter press (Daily Mail, Daily Express etc.) is unlikely to be anywhere near as strong. Also, the scapegoating of immigrants, the disabled, benefit claimants and the like won’t go down so well with the people of Scotland, will it?
AlRos
Leading up to every United States presidential election, about ten percent of Americans threaten to move abroad (usually to Canada) if the results do not go their way. The number of people who actually do is negligible. It’s easy to tell a pollster that you’ll `consider leaving the country’ if things don’t go your way — I’m surprised that only 17% did given the weight of the independence debate — but this is rarely a genuine threat. I don’t know why anyone would take this statistic seriously.
Eilidh Darling
I left the US just after Bush was ‘elected’… erm… appointed.
BTW,
I’m no expat, an American living abroad with one foot back in the US. I
came over as an immigrant, and have since become a citizen. All over
the world there are others like me.
Just sayin’…. 😉
AlRos
Of course! I actually emigrated from the US too, and into the UK. I did not move for political reasons, but there are certainly some who do. But if you compare the number of them to the number of people who threaten to expatriate given unfavourable election results, well … ;-).