Answers on a postcard, folks. The new Redfield & Wilton poll on independence shows a literally identical result to the last one, with 44% saying they would vote Yes and 47% saying they would vote No. (Those figures do not exclude Don’t Knows.) And yet for some inexplicable reason that is probably a mystery even to themselves, the Daily Record have decided to report the poll as a “drop in support for independence”. Paul Hutcheon himself has cluelessly tweeted the inaccurate headline.
Back in the real world, the poll adds to the weight of evidence suggesting that public opinion has remained fairly static of late. Politico, who commissioned the poll, place greatest emphasis on the finding that a narrow plurality of respondents think that a referendum shouldn’t take place unless Westminster agree to it. We seem to be caught in a vicious circle – the more the Scottish Government talk up the need for an agreed referendum, the more the public buy into that concept themselves. That does not actually increase the likelihood of an agreed referendum, but instead produces opinion poll results that simply strengthen Westminster’s hand in saying no.
This strategic naivety must be swept away. The message must be that a referendum is taking place – it would be great to have Westminster on board, but it’s taking place anyway. And the word “legal” should be expunged from the Scottish Government’s lexicon.
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If you’d like to make a complaint to the press regulator IPSO over the Daily Record’s blatant breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code, the online form you’ll need is HERE.
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