The majority of Scots still disagree with decision to release al-Megrahi

Two years on from the release of the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, an Ipsos MORI poll finds that the majority of Scots still disagree with the decision to release him. The poll, most of which was conducted before footage from his home in Libya was broadcast this week, reveals that over half of Scots (55%) think that the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, was wrong to release Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi and allow him to return home on compassionate grounds. Indeed nearly half of Scots (46%) of Scots say that they ‘strongly disagree’ with the decision. Around a third of Scots (34%) support the decision, which has fallen from 42% when the decision was made in 2009, suggesting that some have changed their view of the decision in light of Mr al-Megrahi living for longer than expected. The proportion of Scots who ‘strongly agree’ with the decision has remained relatively steady (22% in 2009 and 19% today). SNP supporters are more likely than supporters of other parties to back the release; 44% of SNP supporters back the decision, although this is down by 14 percentage points from 2009. Conservative supporters are the most likely to disagree with the decision (74%) followed by Labour supporters (61%) and Lib Dem supporters (52%). Mark Diffley, Research Director at Ipsos commented:

‘The release of the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds two years ago sparked international controversy. The three polls we have done since the release all show that Scots are more likely to oppose than support the decision. The gap between opponents and supporters of the decision is now 7 points higher than it was in 2009, suggesting that some Scots who supported the original decision have changed their minds in light of Mr al-Megrahi living longer than expected.’

Download the full slides here (PDF)  For more information, please contact Mark Diffley on 0131 240 3269 Technical Note

• Results are based on a survey of 1,002 respondents conducted by telephone between 25th August and 29th August 2011.
• Data are weighted by age, sex and working status using census data, and tenure using SHS 2007-2008 data, and by public-private sector employment by Scottish Government Quarterly Public Sector Series data.
• An asterisk (*) indicates a percentage of less than 0.5% but greater than 0.
• Where results do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses or computer rounding.
• Where the base size is less than 30 the number (N) rather than the percentage of respondents is given.