Scottish independence: yes campaign gets poll boost

[Bosonic]

Source: The Guardian

Support for Scottish independence has risen by eight points in the last month, in a poll described as a "breakthrough" by yes campaigners.

The YouGov poll released on Monday night put the lead for the no campaign at six points, down from 14 points in the middle of August and 22 points early last month.

The poll for the Sun found that 48% of voters said they would vote no to independence, with 42% planning to vote yes and 8% saying they did not know or would not vote. Excluding "don't knows", 53% of those polled planned to vote no, while 47% would say yes.

This is a huge boost for the morale of the yes campaign, particularly because YouGov has regularly reported lower levels of support for independence than other polling companies.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/02/scottish-independence-yes-campaign-poll-boost

[Vine Gatherer]

1. Bonny!

Or is it Bonnie? Either way,

[pampango]

2. Scots tend to be very liberal but I am torn on which is better.

Scotland sends only one Conservative Party MP to the UK parliament. Most Scots seem to be fed up with the UK's privatization and threats to the NHS. While an independent Scotland would be a very liberal (ant thus successful) new country, removing it from the UK political equation would be great news for the Conservative Party in the rest of the UK.

Interesting times indeed in Scotland.

[Unvanguard]

3. But it's still been consistently behind. Seems unlikely to succeed. n/t

[mwooldri]

10. I don't count out SNP until after the polls have closed.

They've typically had a habit of coming from behind. Maybe a better "get out the vote" than the other parties?

Personally, I'm a little concerned. Unlike some people, I think that if Scotland leaves the union, then the notion of being British goes out of the window. If the Scottish people vote yes to independence, what happens to Northern Ireland? A fair number of the Ulster Unionists have Scottish heritage, not English. There would be a lot for the "Rest of UK" to deal with in the case of a yes vote - and one thing would be the name. The UK in United Kingdom talks about the union of the English and Scottish crowns and political systems, so to continue to be called the United Kingdom would be pointless IMO.

If the Yes people win, it is my belief that the Rest of the UK will eventually be simply known as England & Wales. Northern Ireland would become a mess - would it become its own country, would it unify with Ireland, or would it be somewhat like it is now - three countries recognizing the residents of Northern Ireland as its citizens and provide foreign representation for Northern Ireland on its behalf?

I'd personally prefer a "no" vote, but it's up to the Scottish people to decide. We'll find out after the 18th.

[Aristus]

4. Can someone do a photoshop of the British Union flag without the Scottish

Cross of St. Andrew portion?

What would that look like?

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Here's the literal version:

Though that leaves the diagonal St. Patrick's Cross still offset (which was intended to symbolise that Ireland joined the UK after it was formed between England and Scotland), which I think would be unlikely - it looks a bit ugly to me, like that.

Other versions have been suggested, typically bringing in the Welsh dragon, since that's not represented on the current flag, such as:

[denem]

5. Scottish is not English

I usually want subtitles. Especially Glaswegian.

[Cartoonist]

6. Here in CA

Some nut wants to divide the state in six ways. It's another way of gerrymandering to make conservative districts. It's interesting to see that this would create a liberal entity.
The issue of independence kinda runs contrary to my thought. I would prefer unity, and you know, just getting along. Tibet, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Basque, are all places with some portion of the populace desiring independence. I guess we will never have peace, even in peacetime.

[Lenomsky]

8. It'll be close ...

Convincing more Labour voters to vote Yes will swing it.

[derby378]

9. A cautionary statement, open to interpretation...