Model Kate Moss accepts the British Male Solo Artist award on behalf of David Bowie at the BRIT Awards at the O2 Arena in London.
Support for Scottish independence has risen after Britain’s three main political parties warned the Scots they would not be able to keep the pound if they left the United Kingdom, the first opinion poll following those comments showed.
The message sparked an angry response from Scottish leader Alex Salmond who said Scotland had every right to continue to use the pound and that “bullying” from London would create a backlash.
A Survation poll in the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday seemed to bear that prediction out.
It showed the gap between those who would vote for or against independence in a referendum scheduled for September 18 had narrowed to 9 percentage points from 20 points.
The poll of 1,005 people found 38% support for Scotland ending its 307-year union with England, up from 32% in January, while 47% would vote to stay in the UK, down from 52%, and 16% were undecided.
“It is clear that there has been a severe backlash to (Finance Minister) George Osborne’s bluster and threats on the pound,” Scottish National Party (SNP) deputy Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement.
“Far more people (are) more likely to vote Yes (to independence) on the back of the Westminster establishment’s attempted bullying rather than No.”
The debate over whether Scotland, which has a population of just over 5mn and oil fields off its coast, should leave the UK has become increasingly heated as the referendum vote nears.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also ruffled Scottish feathers on Sunday, saying it would be “difficult if not impossible” for any breakaway state to join the European Union.
Conducted on February 17 and 18, the Survation poll found 52% of respondents thought it would be in the interests of the rest of the UK to join a currency union with an independent Scotland while only 25% disagreed. The rest did not know.
Salmond said blocking Scotland’s access to the pound would hurt both sides of the border as currency translation costs would impact trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK. He has argued that the pound is a shared asset and Scotland could refuse take a share of liabilities such as the UK’s £1.2tn debt if it was refused access.
But Finance Minister Osborne said Scotland would lose the pound if it voted for independence.
The Survation poll also found 65% of respondents wanted Salmond to come up with a Plan B for the currency. So far, the pro-independence camp has trailed in polls, but the gap has narrowed this year.
A second poll from TNS also released yesterday found 29% of Scots plan to vote for independence with 42% intending to vote against. It found 29% were still undecided. This was unchanged from a similar poll in early February but the poll of 996 adults was conducted before the row over the pound.
Tom Costley, head of TNS in Scotland, said the debate had stepped up a gear following the comments on the pound and by Barroso.
Stay with us, Bowie urges Scots
Music legend David Bowie urged Scotland to remain part of the UK during an acceptance speech at the annual Brit Awards ceremony. The reclusive 67-year-old was not at London’s O2 Arena to accept his award for British Male Solo Artist, but sent an acceptance message, read out by supermodel Kate Moss, saying “Scots, stay with us!”. The glam-rock mastermind became the oldest winner of an award, surpassing Welsh crooner Tom Jones, who received an honorary prize for his outstanding contribution to music in 2003, aged 62. Polls show increasing support for a Yes vote in September’s referendum, although the No vote remains ahead. Scotland has enjoyed increased autonomy since a 1997 referendum on devolution, and now looks after its own education, health, environment and justice. But the parliament in London still decides defence and foreign policy, and the SNP wants full independence.