Scots not convinced by Smith commission proposals
On the day that the UK Government publishes draft legislation to devolve additional powers to the Scottish Parliament, Ipsos's new poll for STV News suggests that voters are not won over by the proposals.
On the day that the UK Government publishes draft legislation to devolve additional powers to the Scottish Parliament, our new poll for STV News suggests that voters are not won over by the proposals.
The legislation is based on the recommendations of the Smith Commission, set up in the wake of September’s referendum to examine what new powers should be devolved. Among those who told us that they were aware of the Commission’s report (55% of voters), over a quarter (27%) say that is its recommendations would make them more likely to vote in favour of independence in the event of another referendum. This compares to only 12% who think the proposals would make them more likely to vote against independence, while the remaining 55% said it would make no difference to future voting intentions.
Meanwhile the SNP continues to have a strong lead in voting intentions for the Scottish Parliament. Among those who would be certain to vote in immediate Holyrood election, 53% would use their first vote, for a constituency MSP, to back the SNP (down 4 points from October) while 24% would vote for Labour (up 1 point). Among other parties 11% would vote Conservative (up 3 points) while 5% would back the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
In terms of the second vote, for a list MSP, 48% would vote for the SNP in an immediate election (down 2 points from October), 22% would vote Labour (down 1 point), 11% for the Conservatives (up 3 points), 10% for the Greens (no change) and 5% for the Liberal Democrats (down 1 point)
Mark Diffley, Director at Ipsos Scotland said:
‘The Smith Commission was set up to ensure that the promises for more devolution made by pro-union parties before the referendum were fulfilled. However, it would appear at this stage that, for many voters, the proposals are not sufficient in meeting the constitutional arrangements they want to see. However, it will take years before the proposals are implemented and can be fully evaluated in terms of public opinion.’
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Technical details:
- Results are based on a survey of 1,001 respondents (adults aged 18+) conducted by telephone
- Fieldwork dates: 12th January to 19th January 2015
- Data are weighted by: age, sex and working status using census data; tenure using Scottish Household Survey data; and public-private sector employment using Scottish Government Quarterly Public Sector Employment series data
- Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” categories
- Results are based on all respondents (1,001) unless otherwise stated
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