A poll commissioned by Gordon Brown in the two days after the Scottish Parliament elections buried information showing that 55% of Scots verged to favouring independence on a scale of 0 to 10.
The poll – conducted by James Kanagasooriam’s Stack Data, a trading brand of Hanbury Strategy which has conducted unpublished polling for the UK government and who regularly meet with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove – showed that the accumulated percentage for those verging favourable to independence – 6 to 10 – was 55% in total whilst those verging against – 0 to 4 – was only 38%. Those opting for the middle option of 5 were 8%.
However, this information was only available on page 91 of the polling information, was not published when Gordon Brown commented on his poll and was presented in an accumulated form which put those 2 to 8 (40%) as the middle option.
Whilst the poll did have a standard “Should Scotland be an independent country?” question which came out at 50%, on a binary presentation it only included 714 responses – leaving a large 28% as ‘Don’t Know’ or ‘Unlikely to Vote’ – which was then weighted down to a sample of 596 – a notional 40% as ‘Don’t Know / Unlikely to Vote’.
In contrast, the 0-10 scale question had 872 respondents and was weighted to 990 (88% and 100% respectively of the poll).
Commenting, SNP Depute Leader at Westminster Kirsten Oswald MP (pictured) said:
“These results are heartening and show the strength of potential support independence has gathered over the past few years.
“Brexit and a Boris Johnson government have obviously undermined the key promises of the ‘No’ campaign in 2014 – that of Scotland being an equal partner in a UK that was in the EU – and shown them to be empty and undeliverable.
“This is also classic sleight of hand from Gordon Brown.
“Selectively putting his name to the parts he wants to but disappearing when the full details are revealed.
“It’s also interesting that Mr Brown appears to be employing the same pollsters as Boris Johnson’s government.
“It’s clear that independence is the only way to keep Scotland safe from repeated and unwanted Tory governments and the long-term damage of austerity cuts, Brexit and power grabs.
“With Boris Johnson preparing a return to austerity, with devastating cuts to Universal Credit and a public sector pay freeze, there isn’t a chance of a fair recovery under the broken Westminster system.
“Tory cuts imposed by a Westminster government will entrench poverty and inequality, hinder economic growth, and slash household incomes – damaging Scotland’s interests and leaving millions of families worse off.
“Gordon Brown is now campaigning to allow that situation to continue.
“The only way to keep Scotland safe is to become an independent country with the full powers needed to build a strong, fair and equal recovery.”
