Better together?

YouGov were recently commissioned by gutter rag The Sun to poll people across the UK on a few different questions but the one that YouGov jumped on was that the people of Englandandwales were desperate to deny Scotland one of the most basic of all rights, the right of self determination.

In the poll, YouGov claim that 55% of adults in Englandandwales would, if given the choice, vote no to Scottish independence. In the graph below it does state that the % is of all UK adults, but even with Scotland taken out it's the same figure.

Poll from here

Of the 45% of people who wouldn't vote no, 22% would vote yes, 8% said they wouldn't vote and 15% said they didn't know. Now the more astute will realise that in referendums you don't tend to have an option for don't know or not voting. So already the percentages are off. But that's not the problem with this poll.

The question on Scotland is the last question on the poll (.pdf), the first question was about voting intentions at the next election. I'll come back to the second question in a moment. Questions three, four and five were asking people about the characteristics of the leaders of the three main London parties. They list a bunch of good points and then a none of the above option. Cameron had a none of the above average of 45% with 57% of people in Scotland indicating none of the above. Milliband had a 50% average and 53% in Scotland and Clegg had 59% average with a huge 66% in Scotland. Remember the higher the number the least likeable qualities these 'leaders' have. Wales has been lumped in with the midlands so it's impossible to work out what YouGov want us to think from these results.

Now back to question two. "Do you approve or disapprove of the Government's record to date?"

Disapprove 56%
Approve 30%
Don't know 14%

First graph is the original, the second I made from the YouGov 'data'. Share via twitter | facebook

So to summarise, 55% of the people of Englandandwales want to force the people of Scotland to remain ruled by a government that 56% of the people in Englandandwales don't like. And if we took out the don't knows then the figures would be higher. Now as some will already know I wouldn't put any faith in the accuracy of any poll conducted on behalf of a London tabloid. The point of this post was to highlight the hypocrisy in both those wanting Scotland to remain in the UK and of course the hypocrisy of YouGov.

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