This is the result of a representative flash survey of more than 1,000 Scots commissioned by Channel 4, carried out on Wednesday following a landmark UK Supreme Court ruling.
The Scottish Parliament has no right to call a referendum, according to the High Court. Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon acknowledges the decision, but wants to turn the next UK general election into a quasi-referendum and contest her Scottish National Party’s (SNP) election campaign solely on the issue of independence.
51 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the SNP if their vote could be used as a mandate to negotiate Scottish independence with central London. About a third do not want to do this.
On a related question, half of Scots surveyed (50 per cent to be exact) said they would vote for the SNP if the party’s victory caused Scotland to leave the UK.
Of the 1,006 respondents, 412 voted for the Scottish National Party in the last election. The independence issue thus gave the party a small boost in the poll. The Greens and the splinter party Alba are also in favor of Scottish independence in the Scottish Parliament. The next UK general election is expected to take place in 2024.
In the first referendum in 2014, a majority of Scots voted to remain in the union with Great Britain. For London, the issue is therefore settled in the long term. But Prime Minister Sturgeon argues that Brexit, which the Scots clearly rejected in 2016, has changed the situation. She wants to lead an independent Scotland back to the EU. In the parliament in Edinburgh, the pro-independence is in the majority.
(SDA)