EDINBURGH, September 7 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – An MEP representing the UK Independence Party (Ukip) has told RIA Novosti the reason opinion polls in Scotland have narrowed - with one poll published Sunday showing a lead for the pro-Scottish independence ‘Yes’ side - is because voters are “terrified” of Scottish nationalist “bullies and thugs”.
David Coburn, who is Scotland’s only Ukip MEP told RIA Novosti, “The reason the polls have appeared to narrow is that they are terrified of the Scottish nationalists... They threaten people physically in the street and nobody is putting up ‘No’ posters because they don’t want to have their windows kicked in.
“We are not getting an accurate picture of what is going on because the SNP [Scottish National Party] ... boys have done their work, but in the secrecy of the ballot box there is nothing the SNP can do about that,” Coburn added.
The MEP was responding after a poll published in The Sunday Times newspaper showed the ‘Yes’ side ahead for the first time in the campaign. According to the poll, conducted by polling firm YouGov, 51 percent of Scottish voters now back independence from the UK.
But Coburn moved quickly to dismiss the poll, “I think people just don’t like to tell the pollsters what they are voting. It’s only one poll by YouGov, the same company who had predicted I wouldn’t be elected as an MEP earlier this year and look how wrong they were about that.”
The MEP was also critical of the way in which the anti-Scottish independence campaign, known as Better Together, had been run. Ukip, along with the Orange Order, British National Party and other pro-UK organizations were barred from being part of the official Better Together campaign at the start of the year.
“We offered our services to the official Better Together campaign but they excluded lots of people,” Coburn told RIA Novosti.
“The reason why the Better Together campaign has made such a hash of it is that they have the same views as the Scottish nationalists and that is they are pro-Europe,” Coburn added.
“None of them brings up the European issue. The reason the Better Together campaign don’t want Europe involved is because we can ask Salmond the questions that he can’t answer about Europe. That’s the big problem and that is the reason why [Better Together] are doing so badly in the polls,” Coburn said.
Scottish voters will take part in a referendum on 18th September and will be asked one question, “Should Scotland become an independent country?”
