Late to this but just putting it out there, as they say. Another poll has been published showing that the SNP is getting nowhere slowly on Scottish independence. It is worth pointing these things out, as they tend to get lost or ignored south of the border with so much going on, meaning that the Unionist approach on Scotland sometimes gets based on outdated information.
The Herald reported earlier this week:
“The Kantar TNS face-to-face poll of more than 1,000 people aged over 16 in Scotland showed 41 per cent in favour of independence with 47 per cent opposed while 12 per cent said they did not know. When the undecideds are removed, the split is 53 to 47 in favour of Scotland staying within the Union.”
Support for independence is static, despite all the warnings that a Brexit vote (Scotland voted to Remain in the EU) would certainly lead to the break up of the EU. And the SNP’s summer, remember, was going to centre on a big post-EU referendum push to convince pro-UK voters to switch. It didn’t work out so well and the bloom is off the SNP. The threats of another referendum are getting boring. Indeed, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sensibly backed away from it when she announced her legislative programme recently.
Unionists should not be complacent, however. One of the lessons of the last referendum in 2014 is that they, we, took far too much for granted in the years before the proper campaign. Too little work had been put into making a positive case for the United Kingdom. Unionists need to put some effort now into considering how to convince floating voters and young voters (inclined to independence) that the UK works. After Brexit, the unique partnership of nations – and the ties, friendship and economic relationships involved – are a boon. The UK is pretty much the perfect size.
