NEARLY half of Scots want a second independence referendum within a decade, according to a poll which will pile further pressure on Nicola Sturgeon to promise a re-run after the 2016 Holyrood election.
According to the Survation poll, 48 per cent of those questioned backed a fresh vote on leaving the UK before 2024, with one in seven demanding an immediate repeat.
The findings were welcomed by the SNP, which claimed a majority of Scots wanted another referendum if those who did not express a view were discounted.
However, Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael repeated his call for the Nationalists to respect the outcome on September 18.
He said the two million Scots who voted to stay in the UK expected the Nationalists to keep their promise not to return to the question "for a generation".
The poll, which questioned 1,001 people online between November 6 and 13, found 14 per cent backed another vote immediately; 21 per cent before 2019; and 13 per cent between 2019 and 2024.
A further 12 per cent said after 2024 while 28 per cent felt an independence referendum should never be held again. Eleven per cent said they did not know whether the vote should be repeated.
The questions of a second referendum dominated the SNP conference in Perth last week. Although Alex Salmond said the vote was a once in a generation event, SNP activists were keen to find opportunities for a swift repeat.
New leader Ms Sturgeon said public opinion could shift decisively in favour of a re-run if the UK voted to leave the EU, in the event of referendum in 2017, or if Scots were disappointed with the package of new Holyrood powers agreed by the Smith Commission.
SNP backbencher Annabelle Ewing said: "Nicola Sturgeon has been clear that the people of Scotland will decide when another referendum should be held."
Mr Carmichael said: "The world looked at our fair process for the referendum with envy and the refusal to accept the majority result does nothing but damage our democratic process. If the result had been the other way, it would have stood."
In a direct plea to Ms Sturgeon, he added: "The new First Minister's predecessor said one vote would be enough for a majority before the result. All she has to do is accept that 383,937 - the difference between Yes and No - is a far bigger number."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article