SOME 40% of voters across the UK feel they have nothing in common with people in Scotland, according to a new poll.
The survey carried out by YouGov asked 1743 adults for their views on attitudes to Scots, the Welsh, as well as residents of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
It found that only 13% people in the UK felt they had “a lot in common” with people in Scotland.
The survey also found that UK voters had least in common with their counterparts in Northern Ireland – with only 6% feeling they had “a lot in common” and 49% saying they had “nothing in common” with them.
Indeed UK voters reported feeling they had more in common with people in the Irish Republic. Some 48% of those questioned said they had “nothing in common” with the Republic.
The poll did not ask about Scottish independence, but on the issue of whether Northern Ireland left the Union, the poll found only 24% of UK of respondents said they would be upset – a decrease from 41% at the same time last year.
It also found that 29% and 46% of UK voters thought it was likely there would be a united Ireland within the next ten or 50 years respectively.
YouGov believes the findings were in part a result of demographics. They said a large proportion of participants resided in England and that they were the least likely to feel a common bond with their neighbours across the Irish Sea, if at all.
The surveyors hinted this could be because very few English were aware of modern Irish history, with 6% saying they studied topics like Irish Home Rule and the Troubles at school.
The results come at an important juncture in UK history, as the UK Government seeks to avoid a hard border between the UK and the Republic with the end of the EU transition period looming.
The poll was carried out from March 10 to 11 – almost two weeks before the coronavirus lockdown on March 23.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought a relative end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, includes a provision whereby the island could be reunited if residents north and south vote in favor of such a change.
Polls have shown that strong majorities in the Republic would favor reunification, while opinions are more evenly split along political and sectarian lines in the north. The decision to call a border poll rests with the Northern Irish secretary of state.
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