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A poll released this week has shown just how polarising the Scottish independence debate has become in the UK, as only 20 percent of English people “strongly oppose” secession. A Telegraph poll with Savanta ComRes asked 1,894 English adults for their views on everything from the idea of installing a border between England and Scotland to whether the Scots should keep the pound. Asked to what extent do you support or oppose Scottish Independence, just 32 percent said they opposed it.
Meanwhile, 25 percent supported the Scots going it alone, with 30 percent saying they are neither in support nor opposed to independence.
Tension over independence peaked in 2019 when independence supporters carried banners demanding “England get out of Scotland”.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was asked about the banner, and she condemned it.
Speaking at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, she said: “The banner you talk about, that person with that banner does not speak for the Scottish National Party (SNP) and that sentiment has no place in the kind of Scotland I want us to be and think we are.
“I think you can’t get to a situation, in any party, that you can say with certainty that you never attract the wrong kind of person. But you can be vehement and resolute in calling it out and saying very clearly if that’s your opinion you don’t belong in this party, we don’t want you.
“And people who put up banners like that I don’t want them in the SNP, I’m sorry if that offends them but I don’t want them.”
This wouldn’t be the last time a banner of this kind was displayed.
In August 2020, a banner with the same slogan was held aloft at the England-Scotland border.
READ MORE: Scottish independence: RBS warned ‘we will move to England’
Mr Clerkin denied that the protest was anti-English, emphasising that the campaign’s priority was based around public health.
He added: “We are drawing attention to this issue and calling on the Scottish government to implement quarantine restrictions on people from south of the border if they are engaged in non essential travel.
“It would be best that people living in England think of others and take staycations in England which is in the best interest of public health.
“The idea that today’s protest is anti-English is simply not true.
“This protest is purely about protecting the health of the people of Scotland.”
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