You Take The High Road: Less Than Half of English Want Scotland In UK, YouGov Poll Shows

The YouGov poll of attitudes towards Scottish independence found surprisingly high support among Conservative voters for Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, and conversely low support in Northern Ireland where almost half of voters support nationalist parties.

Less than half of English people think Scotland should stay in the United Kingdom, a new YouGov poll has found.

The survey found that 46 percent of English believe their Scotland ought to remain part of the union, although only 13 percent actually said it should vote to leave. Another 34 were either undure or said it was up to the Scots to decide for themselves. 

But 15 percent said they'd be happy for their northern neighbours to declare independence - or just to see the backs of them and their kilts, bagpipes and haggis.

Amongst the Welsh, only 39 percent want the Scots to stay, but that does not translate to more support for independence.

And in Northern Ireland, where the republican Sinn Fein party is the second-largest party in the Stormont Assembly, support for Scottish independence was surprisingly low at just 20 percent.  

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has used Britain's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) to justify calls for a re-run of 2014's independence referendum, when Scots voted by an overwhelming 55 percent to 45 to stay in the UK. In the UK-wide 2016 EU membership plebiscite, 62 percent of voted to stay in the EU. 

Ironically, support for Scotland breaking away from the UK was higher among the pro-unionist Conservative Party voters than any other party's supporters except those of the separatist SNP. One in five Tories wanted to get rid of the Scots. Another 29 percent didn't care either way.

The United Kingdom is historically made up of three smaller kingdoms: England, including the principality of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Irish independence and partition in 1922 left only the six counties of Northern Ireland in the UK. The Union Jack flag, adopted after the Act of Union in 1800, combines the St George's cross of England with the St Andrew's cross, or saltire, of Scotland.

England and Scotland have long competed separately in many international sporting events, including international football, rugby, cricket and lawn bowls.

In a 1997 referendum Scots voted three to one for their own parliament and government with tax-raising powers within the UK.