SOME 63% of Scots want to rejoin the European Union, according to a new opinion poll.

The survey by Panelbase published today found that 52% of voters in England still backed leaving the EU - a finding which underlines a cross border gulf in public attitudes to reversing Brexit.

The poll was commissioned by Business for Scotland, whose chairman Rob Aberdein said: "63% rejoin versus 37% stay out is an even bigger margin than Scotland’s Remain vote of 62/38 in the 2016 EU referendum.

"That is actually an incredible result, as remaining in would have been a far easier option for people to accept than rejoining. This represents a chasm in public opinion between Scotland and England and there is evidence that the gap is widening.”

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The same question polled for Scot Goes Pop by Panelbase published June 10 found that 60% of respondents would vote for Scotland to rejoin the EU, and 40% said it shouldn’t. That is a 3% increase in only three weeks and suggests that Brexit is a key driving force in the rising momentum for independence.

It is a new momentum that was first identified by the BfS poll in June that found 54% of Scottish voters would now vote Yes, a number many thought was a rogue poll until last week’s Sunday Times poll confirmed exactly the same result.

Leading pollster Sir John Curtice (below) suggested more Scots were backing independence as a result of what they believed was Nicola Sturgeon’s strong handling of the Covid 10 pandemic and Boris Johnson's weaker performance.

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"It may surprise a few people in Scotland but our poll found that 42% of English voters think that Boris Johnson is doing a good job responding to Coronavirus and 39% a bad job,” said Aberdein, “Whereas in Scotland only 21% thinks Johnson is doing a good job and 61% a bad job.”

In the new Business for Scotland poll Sturgeon also cores highly with English voters, 49% claiming she is doing a good job (7% higher than Johnson) but only 18% think she is doing a bad job. In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid response is met with 74% approval and only 21% thinks that she is doing a bad job. Some 21% of Scots say they will vote Conservative in the next Holyrood elections.

The poll also gave a breakdown in terms of ages for rejoining the EU.  Scots between 16-34 year olds are 79% rejoin - 21% stay out; 35-54 year olds are 67% rejoin - 33% stay out; 55+ are 51% rejoin - 49% stay out. In terms of income groups, ABC1s are 69% for rejoining the EU and 31% against and this is the group where independence sport is growing most quickly.

SNP and the Lib Dems registered 83% support for rejoining and 17% against, the opposite of the Scottish Conservative voters’ split: 17% for rejoining and 83% for staying out. Labour voters were split 63% rejoin and 33% stay out.