Nicola Sturgeon is reported to be launching a fresh push for IndyRef2 “within weeks”. But most Scots do not want another independence referendum on her ambitious timeframe, new polling suggests.
A recent report from the Scottish Election Study shows that just 9 per cent of the Scottish electorate want another vote on independence “as soon as possible”. Some 22 per cent want a referendum within the first half of the SNP’s term in office and 16 per cent within five years.
The figure is part of a wider trend of Scots not ruling out another referendum in the long-run, while opposing one any time soon. Although the majority of Scots support one at some point, compared to a third who do not, the SES team discovered more people want IndyRef2 in the next decade (15 per cent) than immediately.
In a separate poll for Survation, just 29 per cent of those asked favoured another vote before the end of 2023, down 10 per cent compared to September 2021.
In another blow to the Scottish government, using the question “Should Scotland remain a part of the United Kingdom or leave the United Kingdom?”, 58 per cent of respondents said they would vote to remain whereas 42 per cent said they would vote to leave.
Whatever conclusions Sturgeon might draw from the SNP’s modest council gains at the local elections last week, the Scottish public are still far from sold on tearing the Union apart.
