Majority of Scots believe Scottish Government or Parliament should make decisions on EU relationship

Six in ten people believe the Scottish Government or Parliament should make the decisions on Scotland’s relationship with the European Union, a new poll has found.

The figure increases to 74 per cent when excluding ‘neither agree nor disagree’ and ‘don’t knows’, with just 22 per cent disagreeing.

However, a majority of those polled who expressed an opinion thought the UK Government should continue to make decisions over defence and foreign policy.

The poll, conducted by Survation for Progress Scotland, also found an increasing number of voters believed Scottish independence would benefit the economy in the long run.

Almost half (45 per cent) agreed it would be good for the economy in the long term, compared to 31 per cent who disagreed.

But on the question of whether independence would be more damaging to the economy than Brexit, it was close, with 37 per cent agreeing and 39 per cent disagreeing.

And almost two-thirds of people (63 per cent) said they would back independence if they were convinced it would be good for the economy. Of 2014 ‘No’ voters who expressed an opinion, 52 per cent said they would vote for independence if convinced by economic arguments, compared to 48 per cent who would not.

Progress Scotland managing director and former SNP MP Angus Robertson said: “As we already know from previous polls, Brexit has had a huge impact on many people moving from opposition to now supporting independence as a way of protecting Scotland’s place in Europe. 

“The fact that 75 per cent [of those who expressed an opinion] would vote for independence if they were convinced that it would be good for the Scottish economy is remarkable and should encourage the pro-independence side in making the economic case to help grow support ahead of the next independence referendum.”

The poll also found the majority of people would support keeping the pound if Scotland were to become independent, though it was only listed as a ‘top three’ issue by eight per cent of respondents.