Pro-UK Politicians Out of Step with English Voters on Scottish Independence - Professor

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Pro-UK politicians advocating a No vote in the forthcoming Scottish independence referendum are completely out of step with English voters, a leading Professor of Politics at Cardiff University, Richard Wyn Jones, has told RIA Novosti.

CARDIFF, August 20 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – Pro-UK politicians advocating a No vote in the forthcoming Scottish independence referendum are completely out of step with English voters, a leading Professor of Politics at Cardiff University, Richard Wyn Jones, has told RIA Novosti.

“What we find is that English opinion runs directly contrary to what the No campaign is promising on at least two key things. The first is public spending in Scotland and the other is the status of Scottish MPs at Westminster,” Jones said.

The Economic and Social Research Council commissioned the poll and researchers interviewed 3,695 English adults, the largest survey of English public opinion carried out during the Scottish independence campaign.

“What is unique about our research is that we’ve gone and asked a very large representative sample of English voters what they think, not only in the context of a Yes vote, but this is the first time anyone has looked seriously at what they think if it’s a No vote,” Jones noted.

Jones added that a No vote would result in calls for significant cuts to the existing Scottish block grant that could see billions of pounds slashed from Scottish public services.

“There is a very strong English feeling that average public spend per capita in Scotland should be reduced to the UK average which would mean an enormous cut in public spending in Scotland, well over 10 percent,” Jones said.

“They also want to see Scottish MPs barred from English votes,” the academic added.

“There has been no attempt by any of the No politicians to explain in England why Scotland should be allowed to keep higher levels of public spending in order to keep Scotland in the Union,” he pointed out.

Jones warned that pledges being made by the anti-independence Better Together side would face a backlash amongst English voters who, according to a study the academic has just published, believe it is time to “get tough” with Scotland regardless of the outcome.

“The first general point to make is there has been very little scrutiny made of what is being promised in the context of a No vote and what scrutiny there has been has focused on what it means for Scotland.

There is very little on what it means for the rest of the Union,” Jones said.

“That raises interesting questions about the extent to which the people making these promises can actually deliver on them over the longer term,” Jones added. “Scotland has been told it can keep its advantageous position in terms of public spending. That is directly detrimental to Wales because of the way the Barnett Formula [which determines the Scottish block grant from Westminster] works.”

“But there is clearly a feeling also amongst the English that this is somehow unfair, especially given the fact that the Scots are being presented as ‘subsidy junkies’ rather than part of the Union that is actually relatively prosperous and pays in more than it takes out,” Jones told RIA Novosti.

Jones told RIA Novosti that regardless of the outcome of the vote relations between England and Scotland looked certain to worsen.

“English voters are also pretty pessimistic about the relations between England and Scotland even if there is a No vote,” Jones said.

Asked by RIA Novosti whether his research showed English public opinion effectively wanted Scotland to leave the Union and fund itself entirely from its own resources Jones said, “Yes, that very much appears to be the sentiment.”

Jones stressed that pledges made by pro-UK parties who oppose Scottish independence, that a No vote will deliver additional powers would prove difficult to sell in the face of popular English opposition.

“English public opinion is pretty strongly opposed to these pledges and so you do wonder what this means for the long term if there is a No vote,” Jones told RIA Novosti.

“I was surprised at how tough English opinion was whatever the result. Yes or No the English are in no mood to be accommodating,” Jones added.

Scots will vote in a referendum to be held on September 18 and will be asked one question, "Should Scotland become an independent country?"

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