XPost: soc.history.war.misc, soc.culture.scottish, alt.religion.   
   hristian.presbyterian   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.baptist   
   From: allan@EASYNET.CO.UK   
      
   "Raktizer Omheit"  wrote in message   
   news:45510de7_1@news.iprimus.com.au...   
   >   
   > "allan connochie"  wrote in message   
   > Alan, obviously you know more about Scotland's 20th century political   
   > history than I do. However, I do know that the Scottish National Party in   
   > the 1997 Devolution Referendum only gained 28% for its proposal to grant   
   > Scotland full independence from the United Kingdom.   
      
   Sorry but you've got your facts completely wrong again! That is always a   
   risk when pronouncing facts about countries on the other side of the world.   
   No-one voted for independence in the Devolution Referendum. Independence was   
   not an option on the ballot paper - that is why it was called a Devolution   
   Referendum! The only options were devolution, that is a devolved parliament   
   at Holyrood with limited powers, or the status quo. For that reason the SNP   
   were reluctant for a while to fully support the YES campaign, however by the   
   time of the referendum they were fully on board with the Labour Party and   
   Liberal Democrats whilst the Conservatives supported the status-quo option.   
   The YES campaign received 74.3% of the vote whilst the NO campaign received   
   25.7%.   
      
   There has in fact never been any referendum on independence. There have been   
   of course opinion polls and in the late 90s some polls showed about 54%   
   supporting independence with only 34% opposing it. The figure dropped back   
   slightly once Holyrood was functioning though other ICM polls in April 1999   
   and Jan 2000 still showed more people supporting independence that opposing   
   it. There were several other ICM polls which reversed the results but most   
   have shown independence as the favourite option. To be frank though for most   
   people it is not a hot potato. They may have a view one way or the other but   
   it may not be high on their priority list. Scots, like other Brits, don't   
   tend to vote on one issue politics come elections.   
      
   Last Wednesday the Scotsman newspaper published another ICM poll which shows   
   51% supporting independence with 39% opposing it. This is the first time   
   this rise in support for independence has coincided with a surge in support   
   for the Scottish National Party who were shown to be on 32% which was ahead   
   of Labour's 30%. The Nats have said that if they win the election they would   
   organise an independence referendum. It is extremely unlikely that they   
   could as a party win an outright majority hence they would need coalition   
   partners. The Green Party and Scottish Socialists both support independence   
   so would be natural partners though it seems likely they would need one of   
   the major parties on board. The most likely partner would be the Lib Dems   
   though the leaders of that party have basically said there is no way they   
   would support a referendum, though come the crunch it perhaps could be   
   different. Many Lib-Dem voters may take exception to their party   
   undemocratically propping up a minority Labour Executive, especially   
   considering that only 49% of Lib-Dem voters oppose independence - likewise   
   only 50% of Labour voters oppose it.   
      
   Allan   
      
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