A surprising coincidence

The very same day that the Campaign for English Independence is launched, BBC Scotland reports the results of opinion polls claiming to prove that the English do not approve of Scottish independence!

I copy the BBC Scotland article in italics:

4 July 2011 Last updated at 09:51

Nearly half of English oppose Scottish independence - poll

By Michael Buchanan BBC News, Radio 4's The World At One

Almost half of people in England do not want Scotland to become independent, a poll suggests.

The ComRes survey for BBC's Newsnight and Radio 4's World at One found 48% of voters in England wanted Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom.

If Scotland voted for separation, 45% said they would like a referendum in the rest of the UK.
ComRes chairman Andrew Hawkins said it suggested both nations should have a say in any decision about the Union.

The poll asked 864 adults in England a variety of questions relating to Scottish independence.

Following an historic election victory in May, Scotland's SNP government promised to hold a referendum on Scottish independence within the next five years.

English support for Scottish independence polled at 36% - almost exactly the same as the result of a poll for the Herald newspaper last month, which suggested 37% of Scots favoured separation.

Despite increasing complaints from English MPs that Scotland gets too much funding from Westminster, 51% of those surveyed thought that an independent Scotland would not make any difference to how well off England was.

While 21% of people thought England would be worse off, 19% said it would be better off. 

On the issue of whether there would have to be a second referendum in the rest of the United Kingdom should Scotland vote for independence, as recently suggested by Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, opinion was fairly evenly split.

Forty-five percent said the rest of the United Kingdom should get a say, while 47% said it should not.

Regardless of what Scotland decides to do, however, the poll indicated that most English people wanted England to remain within a United Kingdom, with 57% saying they would not like the country to become fully independent with its own government.

But more than a third did want to see an independent England - the same number as those who supported an independent Scotland.

Mr Hawkins said: "The English take a remarkably similar line to the Scots when it comes to independence, which perhaps adds weight to the argument that 'Scottishness' itself is specious, that Scots are simply those people who live in the northern-most part of Great Britain.

"That almost half of the English feel that they would like a say over Scotland's future suggests that the Union should be England's as well as Scotland's to determine."

John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University told the BBC that the poll suggested that "for the most part, England wants the Union to continue and certainly sees little advantage in it ending, but probably would not die in a ditch to keep it preserved".

"After all, for most people in England, Scotland is not a significant 'other'," he said. 

Various points to note on the above.

• If only 48% of those English polled were against Scottish independence, then the majority were either in favour or didn't care!  So the BBC might have used a rather different headline for this report.

• Interesting to see that per the BBC 'more than a third did want to see an independent England - the same number as those who supported an independent Scotland.'  In anecdotal discussions with people, we're finding the figure in favour of English independence is close to a 100%!

• Does the British government have the power to intercept all phone calls and emails in the UK?  Yes, it does.  This time, we will assume that this amazing coincidence of the BBC publishing the above article on the same day as the launch date of the Campaign for English Independence was just that.  But you know what? You can never trust the British government.