A NEW poll has found that 57% of Scots think the country should have a referendum on independence.
Opinium conducted a survey amongst 1028 Scots aged 16 and over between September 5 and 11.
The figures showed that 24% of people wanted a referendum by the end of 2025, a further 18% by the end of 2030 while 32% don’t think another independence vote should ever be held.
READ MORE: Blair Jenkins reflects on 10-year anniversary of Scottish independence referendum
The same research showed that 49% of people felt Scotland should be able to hold a referendum without needing the permission of the UK Government while 37% disagreed with this.
We previously told how Opinium data for The Sunday Times found that if a new vote was held tomorrow, the No side would only have a two-point lead.
When asked if Scotland should be an independent country, just under half (47%) would choose No while 45% would back Yes.
Almost one in 10 were undecided while younger voters were more likely to want independence, with 63% of 16 to 34-year-olds saying they would choose Yes while the same number of over 65s would vote No.
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium said: “Unionism retains only a narrow lead in the polls, as voters appear unenthused by the main arguments the No camp made against independence a decade ago.
"Despite this, there is relatively little policy-wise that Scots think would actually get better, and the ideal solution for most seems to be remaining in the Union.
"It is up to Unionists to put forward a positive vision for what an empowered Scotland within the UK looks like.”
Impact of Scottish independence
The poll also looked into what people felt the impact of Scottish independence would be, with 47% of people thinking tax rates would get worse.
Views were mixed on the potential economic impact, with 42% thinking the state of Scotland's economy would get worse, with 37% thinking it would get better.
Almost two in five (39%) think Scotland's environmental and climate issues would improve under an independent Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel