Neil Oliver has said that he believes Scotland choosing independence would be a “step backwards” and would ‘infringe’ on his human rights.

Speaking to Unlocked the Coast presenter said: "For me to draw a new hard-line separating Scotland from England in that formal sense is a backwards step. I prefer what I've always had and I bridle at the thought that someone can take away my nationality and replace it with another.

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"I push that to a point as something that infringes on my human rights.

"I'm a British citizen, that's how I see myself.

"Not in an argumentative way, I don't see that I should have to cede my right to understand myself as I am to some politician."

His comments come following a host of polls showing growing popularity for Scottish independence, with the latest being an Ipsos MORI poll for STV which found 56% backed Scottish independence. 

Oliver, the former president of the National Trust for Scotland, has made his thoughts on Scottish independence known,  describing the uncertainty caused by the prospect of a second referendum as a “cancerous presence." 

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He also suggested that Boris Johnson did not feel safe during his visit to Scotland this year saying: "Scotland was the most welcoming country in the world. That a British PM – or indeed anyone at all – might feel unsafe here is more mortifying and heartbreaking than I can say."

The survey found 55 percent back the SNP in the constituency vote for next year's election and 47 percent in the regional list vote.