Cameron better than Brown 'to save Union'

Published on Sunday 29 April 2007 00:07

DAVID Cameron is a more reliable "saviour" of the Union than Chancellor Gordon Brown, according to a new poll today.

Only days after findings suggested voters wanted Cameron rather than Brown in Downing Street, it has now emerged that the Tory leader would have a better chance of halting Scotland's slide towards independence.

New research revealed in Scotland on Sunday today shows that almost a quarter of his own Labour voters would be more likely to support independence if, as expected, Brown succeeds Tony Blair as Prime Minister. But the survey, commissioned by the think-tank ThinkScotland showed only 19% of Labour voters would be more likely to support a break-up of the United Kingdom if Cameron was installed in 10 Downing Street.

Experts last night claimed the results, on the eve of the showdown with the SNP in the Scottish Parliamentary elections, reinforced warnings that the drive towards independence was fuelled by hostility towards the Labour government at Westminster. But they also claimed that the apparent dissatisfaction with Brown proved his "Anglification" strategy, attempting to widen his appeal beyond Scotland, had backfired disastrously.

"What these results show is not so much Scotland's attitude towards independence as their views on Gordon Brown," said Matt Qvortrup, a polling expert at the Robert Gordon University. "All the 'Britishness' stuff hasn't worked in England, where he's still seen as more Scottish than English. But the irony is that Scotland now sees him as more English than anything else."

Brown conceded yesterday that a poll drubbing for Labour this week would reflect badly on him as well as Prime Minister Tony Blair - saying people "will be voting on all of us".

The new poll, carried out by CommunicateResearch over two days last week, challenges a series of common perceptions about the four-way battle for Holyrood.

The findings suggest that the debate over whether Scotland should strike out on her own remains finely balanced, with two equally large groups supporting or opposing independence. A total of 38% of more than 1,000 people surveyed said they backed independence, while 37% opposed it.

However, a remarkable 35% of Labour supporters said they backed independence and one out of five Tories followed suit - almost half of them 'strongly supporting' a divorce from the rest of the UK.