Latest opinion poll shows surge in support for Yes to Scottish independence and gives UK Prime Minister Cameron yet another bad day

The Scottish newspaper The Courier, published in the town of Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dé), has reported on the latest Survation poll for the Daily Mail which shows a surge in support for a Yes to independence vote. This is the first poll since the overwhelming victory of Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond in the last televised debate on the independence referendum with pro-union Alistair Darling. It shows that the lead of the No campaign has been halved. The number of Scots still undecided fell from 12.5% to 10.8%. When those still undecided are excluded, support for No is at 53%, with Yes on 47%. The momentum has clearly swung behind the Yes campaign with the independence referendum just three weeks away.

This poll was released a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron scuttled up to Glasgow to address a dinner organised by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), a London based pro-union lobbying group. The event which has been deemed as a pro-Union ‘Better Together’ event also puts further pressure on the BBC’s (British Broadcasting Corporation) ability to maintain its smokescreen of neutrality on the referendum. The BBC, it emerged in April of this year, had been secretly paying the CBI tens of thousands of pounds each year in fees. Their coverage of the referendum campaign has been criticised by many for being heavily biased against independence.

Just to add to David Cameron’s woes, even amongst friends there was no hiding palce.  At the event last night CBI President Sir Mike Rake criticised him for planning to hold an In/Out of the EU (European Union) referendum. This comes after one of Cameron’s UK Conservative MP’s defected to the anti-EU party UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) yesterday. All of this prompted Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon to say:

"This is a humiliation for the Prime Minister on the same day one of his MPs has defected to UKIP, exposing the deep Eurosceptic seam running through the Tory Party which is dragging the UK ever closer to the exit door of Europe.

"For David Cameron to be lectured by one of the UK's most senior business figures about the dangers of his in-out referendum on EU membership shows just how worried companies are about the prospect of the UK being taken out of Europe.

"For Scotland, the choice is clear – a Yes vote which will protect our place in the EU as an independent member, or a No vote which could see us dragged out of Europe against our will, shutting us off from a single market of more than 500 million people with potentially devastating consequences for jobs and investment."