Tory win likely to make more Scots vote for independence

Published on Sunday 7 September 2008 22:20

A QUARTER of Scots would be more likely to vote for independence if the Conservatives win power in Westminster, a poll suggested yesterday.

The YouGov study revealed that 34 per cent are in favour of independence and 50 per cent are against. But the same sample showed that 25 per cent would be more likely to support independence under a Tory government.

The poll, which was a sample of 1,355 adults, would support the strategy currently pursued by Alex Salmond, the First Minister, of holding a referendum on independence in 2010, shortly after the expected timing of a Westminster election.

Even with a handsome victory, the Tories are expected to only win one or two seats in Scotland with an optimistic hope of five seats.

The prospect has raised the spectre of a repeat of the Thatcher years where unpopular policies were forced on a Scotland that had rejected the Conservatives.

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: "Previous polls have shown that it is the prospective re-election of Gordon Brown that threatens the future of the United Kingdom. It is Gordon Brown who is deeply unpopular in the four corners of the UK, with David Cameron and Annabel Goldie continually rated much higher."

But there was some compensation for Ms Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, in the poll, which suggested more people could see her as First Minister than any of the three Labour leadership candidates.

Ms Goldie polled 8 per cent against 7 per cent for Cathy Jamieson, 5 per cent for Andy Kerr and just 3 per cent for the supposed front-runner, Iain Gray.

All of them were far behind Mr Salmond's 41 per cent.

The SNP claimed that it "humiliated" Mr Gray, but a Labour spokesman said that the poll simply reflected that there was a three-way contest and "there's only one Annabel Goldie".