A majority of Scots would vote to remain in the United Kingdom again, according to a poll published on Tuesday, ten years after the last independence referendum.
On 18 September 2014, Scotland voted 55% against independence. Less than 45% of Scots voted for it.
A decade later, the trend is similar, according to the polling institute YouGov: among those surveyed who have an opinion on the subject, 56% would vote for the status quo, against 44%.
Some 8% of those surveyed, however, said they “did not know” how they would decide in the event of a referendum.
The 2014 result dealt a blow to the aspirations of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), which came to power in the Edinburgh parliament in 2007.
Two years later, however, the Brexit vote reopened the debate, with a majority of Scots opposed to leaving the European Union. Nicola Sturgeon, then leader of the SNP and Scottish First Minister, called for a new vote, arguing that Brexit had changed the situation.
But this fight for independence now seems to be at an impasse. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom rejected in 2022 Edinburgh’s desire to organize a new referendum without London’s agreement.
The SNP, now led by John Swinney, has been criticised for prioritising this issue over everyday concerns such as health and education. The pro-independence party suffered a further setback in July’s general election, dropping from 48 to nine MPs in the Westminster parliament.
According to the YouGov survey of 1,063 people in Scotland, the 8% of undecided voters leaves “room for manoeuvre for both sides”.
Looking back, most Scots (52%) are pleased the referendum went ahead, with only one in three (33%) saying it was a bad idea to allow it.
Younger voters appear more likely to support independence than older ones, with only 27% of those polled over 65 in favour.
A majority (51%) believe that independence has dominated the political agenda too much over the past decade and most (70%) do not want another vote in the next 12 months.
But just over a third of those polled (37%) are in favour of a vote within the next five years, and 43% within the next ten.