Brexit, Coronavirus and the Economy: Three Key Issues in the Independence Debate

20th October 2020 Comment Elections, parties & leaders Expectations of constitutional change How Scotland should be governed Perceptions of government & the Union Policy issues

The last week or so has seen the publication of three further polls of attitudes towards Scotland’s constitutional status. Two of them, from Ipsos MORI (for STV News) and from Savanta ComRes, continued the gradual trickle of polls this year of how people would vote in another independence referendum. The third, from Survation (for the […]


Twenty years of changing attitudes towards Holyrood and Westminster

29th September 2020 Comment

Today sees the publication by the Scottish Government of a Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) report on how attitudes in Scotland towards the devolved and UK-wide institutions have evolved since the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999. Throughout the last twenty years SSA has regularly tracked attitudes towards how Scotland is and should be governed, thereby […]




The 2019 Election: A Constitutional Cry or a Brexit Ballot?

22nd May 2020 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

The reverse suffered by the SNP in the election in June 2017 resulted in Nicola Sturgeon putting her plans to hold a second independence referendum on ice. In contrast, the recovery in the party’s position in the election last December encouraged the First Minister to claim that she now had a mandate to pursue another […]




Does Scotland Want IndyRef2 This Year?

17th January 2020 Comment The Scottish independence referendum

The outcome of last month’s general election has paved the way for a constitutional confrontation between the UK and the Scottish Governments. The success of the Conservatives in winning an overall parliamentary majority of 80 has ensured that the UK will leave the EU at the end of this month. But equally, the success of […]


Welcome to the Relaunched Site!

7th January 2020 Comment Site News

As you might already have noticed (and we foreshadowed last month) over the New Year we have launched a redesigned version of the whatscotlandthinks website. The site was originally launched in June 2013 in advance of the Scottish independence referendum. Ever since then it has endeavoured to provide a comprehensive database of polling data on […]