MOST Scots think a second independence referendum should take place in the next decade or sooner, according to a new poll.
A survey has found that 56% of Scots said that indyref2 should come before 2036, heaping pressure on Westminster to grant another vote.
It comes after Andy Burnham said there should be a referendum on independence if there was “clear consensus” for Yes.
The research, carried out by pollsters Norstat for Believe in Scotland, found that 26.9% of Scots thought there should be another referendum in the next year or two years, 20.7% said it should come in the next three to five years while 8% said in the next six to 10 years.
Some 12.6% of people said there should be another vote more than 10 years from now, while 20% said there should never be another referendum and 11% said they did not know.
Altogether, that means 68.2% of Scots agree there should be a second Scottish independence referendum at some point in the future.
Elsewhere, among those likely to vote 52% said they would vote Yes while 48% said they would oppose independence.
It comes after an Ipsos poll found that 48% of Scots supported having another referendum within this parliamentary term, or the next five years and the number of people saying “never” stood at 22%.
That survey found that between 18% to 24% of Unionist voters, depending on party allegiance, backed a second referendum in the next five years.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, founder of Believe in Scotland, told The National the figures showed that “the public opinion obstacles identified by the Prime Minister have already been met”.
He added: “There is some good news for Burnham. A majority – more than two-thirds of Scottish voters who expressed a view, 67% – agreed with him that the UK Government should agree to another referendum where there is clear majority support for holding one. So bring it on.
“And here is the great irony. If the Prime Minister and the Scottish Secretary genuinely believed Scotland would vote No, we would probably already have a date for the referendum.
“Their continued refusal raises the obvious question: is Westminster’s real objection to a referendum the fact that they already know Yes would win?”
And he argued that support for Unionist parties was not a measure of support for the Union itself.
The research found that support for independence stood at 33% for those who backed Scottish Labour at this May’s Holyrood election. Some 30% of Reform voters were in favour of independence, as were 21% of LibDems and 17% of Scottish Tory voters.
Believe in Scotland estimated this amounted to around 355,000 voters who backed Unionist parties but would support independence in a referendum.
MacIntyre-Kemp said: “There is also an important answer here to those who will likely argue in the Holyrood debate tomorrow that ‘more Scots voted for pro-Union parties in May’. 33% of Labour voters and 30% of Reform voters from that election support independence. When Norstat’s figures are applied to the actual votes cast, around 355,000 Yes supporters voted for the four main pro-Union parties.
“You cannot simply count a Labour or Reform or even a conservative vote as a No vote - to do so is either deliberately, or stupidly misleading. Party voting and constitutional preference are not absolutes. The Prime Minister also told Parliament that Scotland should be in ‘exactly the same situation’ as Northern Ireland when public opinion changes. Under the Northern Ireland Act, the Secretary of State must call a border poll if it appears likely that a majority voting would support a united Ireland. Our poll puts Yes at 52%, as do others.
“Believe in Scotland’s position on indyref2 is simple. This poll proves that the public opinion obstacles identified by the Prime Minister have already been met.”
The UK Government was approached for comment.
