Most Scots ‘do not want indyref2’ next year

MOST Scots do not want an independence referendum on the Scottish Government’s timeline, two new polls suggest.

One survey by Survation, for the anti-independence group Scotland In Union, showed just 29% of the 1,050 people asked favoured another vote before the end of 2023 – the schedule set out by the Scottish Government – while 60% said they were opposed.

In a poll by Panelbase for the Sunday Times, just 24% wanted another vote within the next 12 months, while 31% agreed it should happen in the next five years – meaning 55% of the 1,009 Scots asked backed a second referendum at some point.

In the Panelbase survey, support for independence is at 49% when undecided voters are removed, while just 42% supported separation in the Scotland In Union poll.

However, the latter question was “should Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom or leave the United Kingdom” – different wording than what was used in 2014 and mirroring that which was used in the Brexit referendum.

Pamela Nash, the chief executive of Scotland In Union, said: “Whatever SNP politicians claim about the council election results, it is clear that the people of Scotland do not support their timetable for a divisive second referendum next year.

“Voters want the Government to prioritise what really matters to them, not the SNP’s obsession with constitutional division.”

A spokesman for the SNP said: “The people of Scotland delivered a cast-iron democratic mandate for an independence referendum in last year’s Holyrood election, when they returned the SNP with the biggest share of the vote of any party in the history of devolution and elected a record number of pro-independence MSPs.

“Attempts to block the democratic mandate delivered to the SNP are unsustainable and undemocratic.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Dundee, P17.