Support for Scottish independence has fallen following a TV debate last week and the campaign to split the UK will need a dramatic turnaround if it is to win a forthcoming referendum, a poll showed yesterday.
The Survation poll for the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper said 50 per cent of respondents planned to vote against independence in a ballot due on September 18 that will decide whether Scotland breaks its 307-year union with England.
It was the highest level of support for remaining part of the UK in all Survation polls since February.
By contrast, just 37 per cent said they planned to vote for a split while 13 per cent said they were undecided. Excluding undecided voters, support for independence stood at 43 per cent against 57 per cent in favour of the union.
Chief Executive of Survation Damian Lowe told Reuters the ‘yes’ campaign would need to see a “seismic change” in order to win, and had to answer key questions, particularly over which currency an independent Scotland would use.
“I think they’ll need to go back to the drawing board on some of these issues and come back with some answers,” he said.
The last Survation poll, published on August 3, showed support for independence at 40 per cent, with 46 per cent against and 14 per cent of respondents undecided.
This latest survey capped a bad week for Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, the head of the pro-independence camp who was widely seen to have lost Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling, the leader of the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK.
During the televised clash, Salmond was repeatedly pushed on how an independent Scotland would keep the pound, given that the British government had excluded a currency union.
He responded yesterday by saying there was “absolutely nothing” that could be done to stop Scotland from using the pound and there was no alternative plan.
“Plan B implies settling for what’s second best,” he said in an open letter published in The Scottish Sun newspaper.
“And neither myself, my colleagues in the SNP (Scottish National Party) or the wider Yes campaign will ever settle for second best for Scotland.”
Although different surveys show varying levels of support for the ‘yes’ campaign, none show it in the lead, with supporters of secession struggling to make any headway since the end of March.