Majority of Scots support UK independence – YouGov poll

LONDON (Reuters) – A majority of Scots support independence from the UK, a YouGov poll found on Wednesday, with support for nationalists backed by a much more positive view of how they have reacted to COVID-19 compared to London.

The Times poll found that 53% of people would vote for Scottish independence in a referendum, with 2 percentage points up from January and the highest level of independence support recorded by YouGov.

It is the latest poll to suggest growing support for Scottish independence and could bolster calls for a different vote on the issue, after Scotland rejected it in a 2014 referendum by 55% -45%.

The Scottish National Party, which leads the devolved government in the nation, insists they have the right to call for another vote. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the 2014 referendum was decisive and should be respected.

The poll also suggested the SNP was on course for an unusual majority in the Scottish Parliament in next year’s elections, setting up a possible constitutional clash with Westminster.

Much of the increase in support has been linked to divergent views of the leadership in Scotland and the UK as a whole. Some 72% of respondents agreed that Scottish Prime Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon did it very or fairly well, while only 20% said so for Johnson.

The YouGov poll found that 52% of voters thought Scotland was going in the right direction, up 20 percentage points from when the question was last asked a year ago.

The Scottish Government of Sturgeon has responsibility for health policy, and it has been more cautious than Johnson in reducing the lockdown.

Scotland, which accounts for around 10% of the UK’s population, has not had COVID-19 deaths since mid-July. The United Kingdom, which uses a broader methodology to count deaths being examined, as a whole recorded 1,362 deaths during that time.

YouGov interviewed 1,142 adults between August 6-10.