New organisation set up to gauge indyref support

A new polling and research organisation has been set up by former SNP deputy leader Angus Roberston to examine attitudes towards Scottish independence.

Progress Scotland also involves former UK government pollster Mark Diffley.

Mr Robertson said the aim was identify the policies and arguments that would persuade voters to back independence.

The Scottish Conservatives predicted it would find that most Scots did not want another referendum.

The new organisation will carry out polling, focus group and other forms of research, with funding coming from donations and public subscriptions.

Analysis and other information will be released to subscribers, Mr Robertson said.

Better information

He told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland some "good work" had been carried out by academics, but that more information was needed.

He said: "There's not actually that much out there - or certainly not enough - that can help inform the wider Yes movement, both in terms of understanding where the public is, but also the arguments that are going to help grow support."

Thousands of independence supporters marched in Edinburgh last October

He said polls indicated that support for independence was "up marginally" since the 2014 referendum, when Scots voted by 55% to 45% to remain in the UK.

However, he said the movement of opinion was complex, claiming that 8% of No voters now backed Yes - but that 5% of former Yes voters had moved to No.

He said there were certain groups of voters who had not been persuaded by the arguments ahead of the last independence referendum.

"With all of these people we need to understand where they are now, and what it is that might persuade them to change next time around," he said.

Indyref timing

Pressed on whether he thought First Minister Nicola Sturgeon should call another referendum soon, he said: "I think people need to know where we are, and given that we don't know where we are with Brexit - is it going to a hard Brexit, a soft Brexit, no Brexit, a People's Vote? - we need greater clarity on where we are going before we could ask the question.

"But we also need to do the very basic work of understanding where the public are on all of this.

"What's the point of simply re-running a question in the hope that just because someone speaks a bit louder or knocks on someone's door a bit louder, one's going to get the ball across the line."

Mr Robertson was the SNP MP for Moray until he lost his seat at Westminster at the 2017 general election. He also served as the party's deputy leader and Westminster leader, and was the SNP's campaign director in three elections.

Progress Scotland's polling and research will be conducted by Mark Diffley, who served as the lead pollster for the UK government in the run-up to the independence referendum.

Mr Diffley said he was taking part in the project because "Scotland has been my home for nearly 20 years and I have witnessed how the country has changed and continues to change".

'Uncertainty and division'

Maurice Golden, Scottish Conservative chief whip, commented: "When this group does speak to people in Scotland, it will find that the majority don't want to go back to get more division and uncertainty.

"It's to be hoped that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP listens for once."

Scottish Labour said the group should insteand talk to people about the state of our public services and condition of the economy.

Business manager Neil Findlay said: "People want the government focused on jobs, schools and hospitals - not the instability that would come with another referendum."