Well this is awkward, for the SNP. After months of strutting about by a tutting Nicola Sturgeon during which it was claimed, and too often believed south of the border, that the SNP represents the will of the entire Scottish people who supposedly demand a bespoke Scottish Brexit deal, it turns out that this is simply not the case.
The respected NatCen for Social Research has conducted some dynamite polling, which was published on Wednesday. I’m a day late to it but didn’t want you to miss it in case you were also busy yesterday washing your hair or having a life.
My old friend Professor John Curtice has a tremendous piece in The Guardian explaining why the SNP’s assertion – that everyone in Scotland is absolutely furious and wants to stay in the EU single market at all costs and have nothing to do with Brexit – may be, er, rubbish.
“To date little effort has been made to check out this assumption by asking voters in Scotland what kind of Brexit they would like to see. New research published today finally does so – and makes rather sober reading for Scotland’s first minister.
Go on…
It turns out that Scots are not so keen on freedom of movement after all. As many as 64% believe that, post-Brexit, anyone from the EU who wishes to live in Britain should have to apply to do so in the same way as anyone from outside the EU. Even more, 72%, think that the same rule should apply to any British citizen who wants to go and live in the EU.”
There’s more…
Only 25% back the idea that it might be easier for someone from the EU to migrate to Scotland than to England or Wales. Equally, 62% say the rules on trade between Scotland and the EU should be the same as those in the rest of the UK, while just 34% think there should be a more liberal regime north of the border.
Between them, these findings raise severe doubts about the wisdom of the Scottish government’s decision to turn a disagreement about what Brexit should mean into the crux of an argument as to why Scotland should have a second opportunity to back leaving the UK.
The entire SNP case of the last few months, all that taking up the news bulletins with endless complaining on television about “hard toree Brexit”, turns out be based on a position that is now deeply unpopular in Scotland. Oops!
