Latest poll shows support for break is now ‘neck and neck’

A NEW poll has revealed that support for and against independence amongst Scots is at almost the same level.

The ICD poll found that 45 per cent of Scottish voters surveyed opposed independence, while 44 per cent wanted independence.

Meanwhile, polling company TNS-BMRB published a series of surveys conducted between August 2007 and August 2011 showing rising support for independence. The poll showed that 39 per cent of Scots surveyed last August favoured independence compared with 35 per cent four years earlier.

It also showed opposition to independence had dropped from 45 per cent to 38 per cent between May and August last year – the three-month period after the SNP’s election victory.

The findings of the ICD poll were seized on by SNP’s referendum campaign director Angus Robertson, who said that support for independence among Scots was “neck and neck” with those wanting to remain part of the UK.

He said: “Results like this show that independence for Scotland is achievable and with more and more people supporting the principle that decisions about what happens in Scotland should be made by the people of Scotland it is a very welcome result.”

About 100 Scots are thought to have been interviewed for the ICD poll carried out for the New Statesman magazine.