By Dave Taylor 
A YouGov poll has shown that as many Scots want to stay in the EU as want to leave, in contrast to views in England and Wales.
The demographically balanced poll of 1007 Scots was part of a wider GB poll conducted between 12th – 21st January 2012. All percentages quoted in this article are of those who expressed an opinion, the don’t knows and those who said they would not vote have been factored out. 14% in both Scotland and England (17% in Wales), were “Don’t know / would not vote”.
By Dave Taylor
A YouGov poll has shown that as many Scots want to stay in the EU as want to leave, in contrast to views in England and Wales.
The demographically balanced poll of 1007 Scots was part of a wider GB poll conducted between 12th – 21st January 2012. All percentages quoted in this article are of those who expressed an opinion, the don’t knows and those who said they would not vote have been factored out. 14% in both Scotland and England (17% in Wales), were “Don’t know / would not vote”.
Of people who expressed an opinion, 50% of Scots supported staying in the EU, and 50% wanted to leave the EU. Although Scottish opinion is evenly balanced on the merits of remaining in the EU, these findings make Scotland the most pro-EU part of the UK.
In contrast 55% of Welsh respondents wanted to leave, while only 45% wanted to remain part of the EU. However the most eurosceptic part of GB is England. 60% of English respondents would vote in a referendum to leave the EU, as opposed to 40% wanting to stay.
When the figures are broken down in terms of party support, unsurprisingly, the three GB parties keenest to leave the EU were BNP, UKIP and the Tories. 94% of BNP voters want out of the EU, a similar proportion to UKIP at 91%. Conservative supporters are not far behind with almost 3 quarters, 73%, of Tory voters wanting to leave the EU.
The parties whose supporters were in favour of remaining in the EU were the Lib Dems (71%) and Labour (56%). The published tables combine the responses of the separate Green party of England & Wales with those of the Scottish Green Party, 58% of Greens north and south of the Border are in favour of EU membership.
No data was published for the SNP or Plaid supporters.
Given the different population numbers in the three nations, the results of a referendum on EU membership across GB would result in 58% voting to leave, as against 42% for staying.
Scotland is in two Unions – the UK Union, and the European Union. Membership of both, either or none of them should be a matter for the Scots alone.