Leader: English opinion split on Scottish independence

The Nationalists will draw comfort from the finding that, at 36 per cent of those polled, English support for Scottish independence is almost as high as the percentage of Scots who favour this option. This would suggest a measure of sanguinity over the prospect of Scotland leaving the union. In the words of the SNP's Treasury spokesman, Stewart Hosie, yesterday: "English people are very relaxed about Scottish independence."

Unionists, of course, would waste no time seizing on the bigger figure - that almost half of the people polled in England, 48 per cent, wanted Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom.

A recent and growing concern is that the more abrasive approach of the SNP administration towards Westminster may be fuelling anti-Scottish opinion and a desire among English voters to be rid of a country that seems to be never satisfied and constantly pressing for more power, resources - and money. This would suggest that any rise in the proportion of English voters favouring Scottish independence might not be regarded as a sign of growing sanguinity, but more its opposite - a keen desire, bordering on truculence, to see Scotland out of the union. Such a feeling would not be at all conducive to the amicable separation that First Minister Alex Salmond asserts is his endgame.

However, reaching deeper into the poll research, there are findings that suggest that the majority of English voters do not share the London taxi driver depiction of Scots as a net cost to the UK exchequer. Despite increasing complaints from English MPs that Scotland gets too much funding from Westminster, 51 per cent of those surveyed thought that an independent Scotland would not make any difference to how well off England was. Some 21 per cent of people thought England would actually be worse off, while just 19 per cent said it would be better off.

Another intriguing finding is that 45 per cent of those polled said that if Scotland voted for separation, they would like a referendum in the rest of the UK. Clearly there is a feeling south of the Border that the future of the Union should be for England as well as Scotland to determine.

This may be dismissed as academic from today's perspective: why should England have a say on the Scottish question? But should Scotland vote "Yes" to open negotiations for independence, the knock-on consequences of constitutional change for the institutions of the UK would come into sharp focus. What would be the impact on Westminster? And might it not have a profound effect on the current stalemate on House of Lords reform? This might prove the catalyst for a federal solution. And, if that is the case, the demand of voters in other parts of the UK could be intense.