Blow for Sturgeon as poll finds Scots back staying in the UK
Blow for Sturgeon as poll finds Scots back staying in the UK – and only 40% support her ‘fantasy’ demand for a referendum on October 19 next year
Nicola Sturgeon suffered a blow today as a poll found Scots still back staying in the UK – and only 40 per cent support her bid to hold another referendum next year.
After the SNP chief demanded a new ballot in 16 months’ time, research by Savanta ComRes found 51 per cent want to remain in the union, excluding don’t knows.
Some 53 per cent oppose the idea of holding the referendum – branded a ‘fantasy’ by ministers – while just two-fifths were in favour.
With Boris Johnson refusing to grant consent, Ms Sturgeon is asking the UK Supreme Court to rule on whether she can go ahead anyway.
But she has conceded that if judges go against her – as most experts expect – she will not trigger a ‘wildcat’ vote.
Instead she will merely fight the next Westminster election on the single issue of Scotland’s place in the UK.
After Nicola Sturgeon demanded a new ballot in 16 months’ time, research by Savanta ComRes found 51 per cent want to remain in the union, excluding don’t knows
With Boris Johnson refusing to grant consent, Ms Sturgeon (pictured at a garden party in Edinburgh yesterday) is asking the UK Supreme Court to rule on whether she can go ahead anyway
The poll, carried out for the Scotsman, is the latest in a string to show unionists narrowly on top in the argument.
Putting aside those who were not sure, 49 per cent supported the separatist case and 51 per cent were against.
The previous referendum – billed by both sides as ‘once in a generation’ – resulted in a 55-45 win for staying in the UK.
Ms Sturgeon came under fire yesterday after she continued her independence push as she met the Queen in Edinburgh.
Despite the tensions over the future of the Union, both women smiled as Ms Sturgeon handed the 96-year-old monarch the £150 bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.
Her Majesty was also given a new tartan blanket, which she said was ‘a lovely thing to have’.
Ms Sturgeon praised the Queen during the Platinum Jubilee as a ‘quite extraordinary individual’, and has suggested an independent Scotland would want to keep the constitutional monarchy.
Ms Sturgeon came under fire yesterday after she continued her independence push as she met the Queen in Edinburgh
Savanta’s Chris Hopkins said the results on the question of whether Scotland should be an independent country are ‘practically neck and neck’.
He said: ‘Support for a second independence referendum without a Section 30 is driven by those in the Yes camp; opposition comes almost wholly from the No camp.
‘Four in five Yes voters say the case for independence is stronger now than in 2014, a majority of No voters say it’s weaker now.
‘The battle lines that were drawn in 2014 are all too familiar, and Nicola Sturgeon’s defiance to hold a referendum at almost any cost just deepens this divide.’
:: Savanta ComRes interviewed 1,029 Scottish adults aged 16 or over online between June 23 and 28.
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