New poll shows over half of Scottish voters believe they will see independence in their lifetime
Almost half of voters in Scotland believe independence is now more likely as a result of the way the General Election has been fought.
With voters due to go to the polls two weeks today, the latest data compiled by Sky has found that 43 per cent of Scottish voters believe the way the campaign has been fought makes a divide in the Union more likely.
Meanwhile over half (55 per cent) predicted that Scotland would become an independent country within their lifetime.
The results will serve to vindicate those, such as the last Conservative Scottish secretary Lord Forsyth, who have warned that David Cameron’s efforts to play up the SNP threat to pander to English voters is playing a dangerous game.
The findings will also embolden those within the SNP who are hoping that the party’s manifesto for elections to Holyrood next year will contain a promise of another referendum on Scotland’s future.
Speaking to Sky News, SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon reiterated that she was ‘not planning a referendum’ and that ‘something material would have to change’ for another vote to take place.
She continued to explain that the General Election election would not provide a ‘mandate’ for a new vote as there was a ‘democratic lock’ on such a referendum. She said:
“Circumstances would have to change and then people would have to vote for it.”
The polling also contained yet more bad news for Labour, as both Nicola Sturgeon and David Cameron were clearly seen by respondents as the most capable leaders.
Over half (51 per cent) indicated that they thought Sturgeon most capable followed by 22 per cent who said David Cameron, 11 per cent for Ed Miliband and just one per cent stating Nick Clegg was the most capable leader.
Asked which leader they felt was best able to make tough decisions, 40 per cent said Nicola Sturgeon followed by 26 per cent for David Cameron, 13 per cent for Ed Miliband and two per cent for Nick Clegg.
The figures come after the former prime minister Gordon Brown last night accused the Conservatives of deliberately whipping up English nationalist sentiments against Scotland.
Speaking at a gathering in Fife he said of the Tories’ electoral strategy:
“The only way they can win is to build resentment in Scotland of the English and resentment in Scotland of the English.”
Arguing that the SNP ‘are not interested in a Labour government’, he said that only a Labour government would ‘immediately deal with food bank poverty, zero-hours poverty, inequality and the NHS’, and warned that large numbers of SNP MPs could mean ‘months of constitutional chaos’.
Brown continued:
“People are talking all the time about hung parliaments, negotiations, deals… We will talk about poverty, inequality, the health service.
But he acknowledged the desire for change north of the border:
“I’ve been going around Scotland and the one thing that is clear, was clear during the referendum campaign and is clear now, is that people want change, they feel insecure.
“But they don’t just want constitutional change.”
Launching into a stinging critique of the SNP for delaying action to tackle the rise in the number of food banks and the bedroom tax, Brown argued that the SNP ‘didn’t want to let Westminster off the hook – they simply don’t do it as there are political reasons’.
The SNP would, he argued, be in ‘exactly the same position as always’ if they make significant gains, namely as ‘a protest group, they will make a song and dance about it but can they make real change?’
Arguing that ‘it is Labour that will stand up for the values of sharing and solidarity’ Brown went on to address head on Alex Salmond’s joke yesterday that he would be writing the next Labour budget. Brown noted that ‘everybody knows, no one is going to ask him’.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
49 Responses to “Scottish independence more likely as Gordon Brown attacks Tory tactics”
Selohesra
The only way there will ever be Scottish Independence is if the English are allowed a vote on it too – they wouldn’t bottle it in the face of ‘promises’ from Westminster
Toque
It’s a bit rich for Gordon Brown to accuse Cameron of stirring up English nationalism when Brown probably did more than anyone to foster English grievance. A Scottish PM by coronation who vetoed plans for state spending on St George’s Day for fear that it would upset the Scots; who banged on about Britishness constantly with never a thought for English identity; who could barely bring himself to utter the word ‘England’ even when discussing English-only policies, preferring instead to incorrectly use the word ‘Britain’ or nebulous terms like ‘this country’; who maintained Scottish spending at levels 20% above England; who imposed undemocratic regional ministers and committees on England using the votes of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs, and; who supported the creation of a Scottish parliament and government but vigorously opposed allowing England even a semblance of national autonomy.
The man is a bigoted oaf.
Gerschwin
The Labour Party decided to devolve power to Scotland because it thought it could rig the system to ensure there’d always be a Labour power base in Edinburgh no matter the PM in No 10. It was a shameless and atypical act of left wing cynicism, undermining any concept of democracy in order to try and rig power bases elsewhere. It didn’t work out, Labour are about to be wiped out in Scotland, as a result they could well lose the election altogether – no sympathy.
Gerschwin
Spot on. The SNP has no answer to currency and EU questions, a referendum will always come down to those tow issues. England will determine the end of the Union not Scotland.
JAMES MCGIBBON
Idiot.