Scottish Nationalists Lead Unionists In Opinion Poll For First Time

Scots for independence have taken their first opinion-poll lead over Scots against independence since the referendum campaign began, according to the Sunday Times newspaper in the U.K. With less than two weeks to go before the Sept. 18 vote, the results of a YouGov survey puts those for independence at 51 percent and those against independence at 49 percent.

“As the Sunday Times reports tomorrow, Buckingham Palace has expressed its concern about the prospect of a breakaway Scotland and a constitutional crisis,” the Times noted Saturday. It also pointed out Queen Elizabeth II has been receiving daily updates about the referendum.

“The YouGov survey ... shows that the nationalists have taken a two-point lead [over the unionists] and are poised to triumph in the referendum,” Reuters quoted the newspaper as saying in a press release before publication of the full survey results. At the beginning of last month, the unionists led the nationalists by 22 percentage points in a similar poll, the news agency said.

However, the latest average of the polls, issued Sept. 1 by John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, shows the unionists lead the nationalists by 10 percentage points, Reuters reported.