Polls favour assembly with power to tax

A Scottish assembly as part of Britain but with substantial power was the consistent favourite amongst those questioned by the Mori polling organisation from early 1981 to 1993.

Those polled in quarterly surveys of 1,000 adults in Scotland from 1981 to 1988 were asked to choose between that option, independence and the status quo. Leaving aside a few "don't knows'', the percentages backing an assembly with significant power ranged from 41 to 53 per cent over these years, compared with 22 to 35 per cent for independence and 14 to 30 per cent for no change.

From 1988 to 1991, four options were posed in quarterly polls: an independent Scotland separate from the EC; an independent Scotland in the EC; a devolved Scottish assembly with some taxation and spending power; and no change. The 1991 poll revealed percentages of 9, 31, 40 and 17 respectively.

A similar pattern was repeated in monthly polls held by Mori in 1992, the year that saw Labour make a tax-raising Scottish parliament a manifesto commitment, and John Major made the state of the Union an election issue.

A national Mori/Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust poll of 1,547 adults in 1991 found 4 per cent for an independent Scotland outside the EC; 12 per cent for that in the EC; 43 for a devolved assembly; and 30 per cent for the status quo.