17th March 2017 Comment
How Scotland should be governed Policy issues The Scottish independence referendum What Britain thinks about the Union
One indication of the dominance of the SNP in the Scottish political firmament these days is that, in what currently is otherwise a climate of relatively infrequent political polling north of the border, no less than four polls have been published during the run-up to the nationalists’ spring conference in Aberdeen this weekend. Two of […]
15th March 2017 Comment
How Scotland should be governed The Scottish independence referendum
The focus of much opinion polling is on the short-term. Has support for this party or that party gone up or down since last month? Which leader’s popularity is increasing, whose is on the wane? Is there any evidence of swing towards or away from independence since the last time the question was asked? As […]
14th March 2017 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
The First Minister’s dramatic announcement on Monday that she would now seek the authority to hold a second independence referendum in either autumn 2018 or spring 2019 was preceded by two new polls of referendum voting intentions. The first came from Ipsos MORI for STV News last Thursday, the second from BMG Research in The […]
2nd March 2017 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
The Prime Minister comes north tomorrow to address Scottish Conservatives at their spring conference. She does so on the back of reports that the UK government is beginning to get concerned that Nicola Sturgeon might opt to pull the trigger on a second referendum, an expectation since heightened by a speech by the First Minister […]
10th February 2017 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
Much excitement was caused this week by a poll from BMG Research for The Herald which was reported by the newspaper under the headline ‘Support for independence surges on hard Brexit vow’. There was then even more of a flutter when in an interview for UK Business Insider I suggested that the three-point increase in […]
29th January 2017 Comment
How Scotland should be governed The Scottish independence referendum
The last fortnight has seemingly seen Nicola Sturgeon’s options narrow significantly. The Prime Minister has set out a vision of Brexit that is the very opposite of the Scottish Government’s stated preference to stay in the single market and continue to accept freedom of movement. The Supreme Court has ruled that the UK government is […]
30th November 2016 Comment
Elections, parties & leaders How Scotland should be governed The Scottish independence referendum
Today is, of course, St Andrew’s Day and the deadline for responses to the SNP’s ‘National Survey’ on how Scotland should be governed. To mark the occasion, The Times commissioned a poll from YouGov on attitudes towards Brexit and indyef2 together with Holyrood vote intentions. Nicola Sturgeon must be wishing that it had not bothered. […]
1st November 2016 Comment
Site News
Long-term users of this site will be aware that it was originally created in advance of the referendum on Scottish independence that was held in September 2014. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its initiative on The Future of the UK and Scotland, the site was part of that […]
18th October 2016 Comment
How Scotland should be governed Policy issues
The outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union was, of course, very different in Scotland than in England and Wales. North of the border 62% voted to Remain while 38% backed Leave. In the rest of Great Britain, in contrast, only 47% voted to Remain, while 53% supported Leave. So […]
11th October 2016 Comment
Elections, parties & leaders
Once upon a time the early autumn of the average London-based political journalist consisted of three weeks spent at three UK party conferences and then a return to their regular beat at Westminster. The SNP’s gathering during the ‘October break’ could be left to their colleagues in Edinburgh and Glasgow to cover. After all, little […]
