Majority of Scottish voters now back independent Scotland and want another independence referendum

A major new poll has revealed that Scottish voters would back independence and they want another referendum on the issue in the next two years. The Ashcroft poll finds that excluding those who said they did not know or would not vote, that 52% to 48% would vote for an independent Scotland. Such a result in another independence referendum would mark the biggest shock to the United Kingdom since Irish independence a century ago. At the present time the "so called" United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This includes Cornwall, where there is a continued campaign for the establishment of a "fully devolved, democratically elected" Cornish National Assembly. It does not include the Isle of Man which is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an independent administration.

Commenting on the new poll results, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This is a phenomenal poll for the independence movement — showing that more and more people think it’s time that Scotland took our own decisions and shaped our own future as a fair, prosperous, outward looking nation." She went on to say: “Independence means getting governments people in Scotland vote for and that will act in our interests. That stands in stark contrast to recent experience of UK governments incapable or unwilling to act with those interests in mind." The demand for a new independence referendum could lead to a constitutional crisis over who has the right to allow another referendum - Holyrood (the Scottish parliament) or Westminster (UK parliament). In March 2017 the Scottish parliament voted in favour of seeking a second referendum, but to date successive British Prime Ministers have opposed the idea. However, with Scottish public opinion swinging firmly in favour of an independence vote Nicola Sturgeon stated:  "Attempts by the Tories to block Scotland's right to choose our own future are undemocratic and unsustainable."