Poll: Yes on 49% but only 42% want a vote within next five years
Support for Scottish independence has grown with a vote on remaining in the UK now on a knife-edge, according to a poll released yesterday.
The survey, the first to be carried out since Nicola Sturgeon last week announced her hope for a second referendum before 2021, found 49% of Scots would back a yes vote, up from 45% in June last year.
According to the same Yougov poll for the Times newspaper, support for a second independence referendum being held within the next five years had also risen slightly – from 40% to 42%.
However, 48% of Scots said they didn’t want to take part in another vote within that timescale.
In the wake of the poll, Brexit secretary Mike Russell said achieving independence was now “within Scotland’s grasp”.
He said the campaign was “moving on from hope to reality”, as he opened the SNP spring conference in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, the poll has predicted Scotland could elect an MEP from the Brexit Party as a result of Conservative voters switching their support.
Around one in eight voters in Scotland (13%) could back the fledgling party, led by Nigel Farage, if the European elections take place.
The survey suggested backing for the Conservatives in these elections had dropped to 10%, down from their 17% share of the vote almost five years ago.
Yesterday Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the latest poll showed Brexit was “not making it any easier to keep Scotland in the UK”.