Ahead of the launch of the “no” to Scottish independence campaign (or, rather, “yes” to the United Kingdom) next Monday, there’s some cheer for unionists in a new poll. The latest Times/Ipsos-MORI survey (£) reveals that among those certain to vote, support for indepencence has fallen by four points since January to 35 per cent. Over the same period, support for Scotland remaining in the UK has risen by five points to 55 per cent. In other words, what was an 11-point lead for the “no” campaign has become a 20-point lead.
Worse for the SNP, Ipsos-MORI asked Scots Alex Salmond’s preferred referendum question – “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?” – a question widely criticised as leading. Robert Cialdini, for instance, an American psychologist with no stake in the race, told the Today programme:
I think it’s loaded and biased because it sends people down a particular cognitive chute designed to locate agreements rather than disagreements. It’s called a one-sided question or a loaded question… [pollsters] for a long time have warned us against those sorts of questions.
When all responses are taken into account, including those unlikely to vote, support for independence falls to 32 per cent, while backing for the Union remains at 55 per cent.
After his dalliance with Rupert Murdoch came under new scrutiny, Salmond’s personal ratings have also fallen. Fifty three per cent of Scots say they are “satisfied” with his performance as First Minister, down from 58 per cent in January. Concurrently, the level of dissatisfaction with Salmond has risen from 36 per cent to 40 per cent.
We’re still more than two years away from the SNP’s preferred referendum date of autumn 2014 (a few weeks after the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn) but with the UK in recession and discontent with David Cameron at a new high, the nationalists should question why they appear to be losing momentum.
One possibility is that the form of independence proposed by Salmond is increasingly indistinguishable from the alternatives of “devo max” (full fiscal autonomy) or “devo plus” (full tax-raising powers, with the exception of VAT and National Insurance). As NS editor Jason Cowley recently noted, Salmond would retain the Queen as head of state, keep the pound (the SNP leader, who quipped in 2009 that sterling was “sinking like a stone” and that the euro was viewed more “favourably”, is now desperate for a currency union with England) and, perhaps, seek to join Nato. What kind of independence is this? So long as the Better Together campaign (as it will be known) makes a genuine offer of further devolution to Scottish voters, it has little reason to fear the coming battle.
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