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Warning puts more Scots in ‘yes’ camp
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Support for Scottish independence has risen after Britain’s three main political parties warned the Scots they would not be able to keep the pound if they left the United Kingdom.
The message sparked an angry response from Scottish leader Alex Salmond, who said that Scotland had every right to continue to use the pound and that the “bullying” from London would create a backlash.
A Survation poll in yesterday’s Scottish Daily Mail, the first following those comments, seemed to bear that prediction out.
It showed the gap between those who would vote for or against independence in a referendum scheduled for September 18 had narrowed to 9 percentage points from 20 points.
The poll of 1,005 people found 38 percent in favor of Scotland ending its 307-year union with England, up from 32 percent in January, while 47 percent would vote to stay in the UK, down from 52 percent, and 16 percent were undecided.
“It is clear that there has been a severe backlash to (British finance minister) George Osborne’s bluster and threats on the pound,” Scottish National Party deputy Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement.
She said far more people are more likely to vote yes to independence on the back of “the Westminster establishment’s attempted bullying” rather than no.
Debate heats up
The debate over whether Scotland, which has a population of just over 5 million and oil fields off its coast, should leave the UK has become increasingly heated as the referendum vote nears.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also ruffled Scottish feathers on Sunday, when he said that it would be “difficult if not impossible” for any breakaway state to join the European Union.
Conducted on February 17 and 18, the Survation poll found 52 percent of respondents thought it would be in the interests of the rest of the UK to join a currency union with an independent Scotland while only 25 percent disagreed. The rest didn’t know.
Salmond said blocking Scotland’s access to the pound would hurt both sides of the border as currency translation costs would impact trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK.
He has argued that the pound is a shared asset and Scotland could refuse to take a share of liabilities such as the UK’s 1.2 trillion pound (US$1.9 trillion) debt if it was refused access.
A second poll from TNS, also released yesterday, found 29 percent of Scots plan to vote for independence with 42 percent against.
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