Yesterday’s release of a poll showing majority support for Scottish independence has already inspired much debate and interpretation - Common Weal's head of policy and research Dr Craig Dalzell takes a deeper look at what the latest findings tell us
CommonSpace engages in an unscientific survey of No voting East Renfrewshire
SCOTLAND is entangled in a UK-wide political crisis, the complexity and chaotic nature of which is unprecedented since at least the 1970s.
It’s strange to think that just five years ago, and even at the time of an historic mass campaign for and against Scottish Independence, British politics seemed like a much simpler animal.
In that campaign, the relatively wealthy East Renfrewshire voted 67 per cent No to independence, against 33 per cent Yes.
Common Weal director Robin McAlpine looks at questionnaire responses from the pro-independence movement about what the challenges it faces are – and finds there is a lot of work to do
IN THE last few months I've been immersing myself in the positive case for independence; there really is a lot to be optimistic about. But let's not kid ourselves on that we don't face some problems as well, or that we can dodge them.
Two-thirds of Scots would accept movement of workers between the EU and UK if it was necessary to secure a post-Brexit trade deal
A NEW poll has shown that Scots have the most favourable attitude towards migration in the UK, with 44 per cent agreeing that migrants had a positive impact compared to 30 per cent who disagreed.
The Survation poll on behalf of Channel 4 asked people in every part of the UK “do you believe immigration has had a positive or negative impact on Britain?”
Common Weal director Robin McAlpine argues that yet to be released public attitude research on Scottish independence has convinced him that the messages coming out from the top of the Yes movement are way out of kilter with what needs to be done and said to win converts to independence
THE interminable game of armchair indy strategy continues apace – all you need is an anecdote or two, a half-remembered statistic and a couple of untested assumptions and you too can talk confidently about how to win Scottish independence.
Poll boost for SNP at Holyrood and Westminster, with Labour down
A NEW Social Attitudes Survey has shown independence is the most popular constitutional option in Scotland, while a poll published in The Times shows voting intentions are up for SNP and down for Labour, in a double poll boost for the party as its spring conference begins in Aberdeen.
Knowledge and interest in politics among Scots has coincided with growing cynicism about the UK political system
A NEW study has found that just 14 per cent of Scots are satisfied with the UK political system, the least of any part of the UK.
The Hansard Society has published its 2018 audit of political engagement, and found a 22 point drop in Scottish satisfication with the UK political system since the first audit in 2004 (three points since 2017).
Despite fears over Brexit, new polling shows 46 per cent in favour of an independent Scotland
NEARLY HALF OF SCOTS back an independent Scotland, according to a new Ipsos Mori poll conducted on behalf of STV News.
Echoing the results of the 2014 independence referendum, in which 44.7 per cent of Scottish voters chose Yes, the polling would indicate that support for Scottish independence has not dramatically risen or fallen, but remained solid.
Survation polling shows widespread public support for an end to Tory austerity
TORY AUSTERITY has gone “too far” according to polling by Survation on behalf of GMB, which found that the UK public support an end to the austerity agenda ahead of the UK Government's Spring budget statement.
Survation, the only company to predict the 2017 general election correctly, also predicted a "storming" seven per cent lead for Labour over the Conservatives at Westminster.