MOST Scots believe any changes to Holyrood’s powers after Brexit has been completed should only come into effect if voters in Scotland agree to them, according to a new poll.
The survey found 66% of Scots think the changes proposed by Boris Johnson’s controversial Internal Market Bill over the Scottish Parliament’s remit must be agreed in a plebiscite if they are to come into effect.
It is the latest finding of a poll, published on Thursday, which found 56% of Scots now back independence.
Commissioned by the pro-independence Scot Goes Pop website, the Panelbase survey found that just 44% of Scots would back staying in the Union, down one point on the firm’s last poll. The 56% figure is the highest ever Yes vote recorded by Panelbase.
The question was put about the Internal Market Bill, pointing out that the House of Lords Constitution Committee has stated that the bill would change the current powers of the Scottish Parliament by allowing the UK Government to override laws passed in Edinburgh. It added that these changes would impose new restrictions on the Scottish Government in relation to goods and services, and by removing powers from the Scottish Government on state aid.
It asked: “Do you think these reductions in the Scottish Parliament’s powers should only take effect if the Scottish people agree to them in a referendum?”
Some 66% of Scots responded yes, while 34 % said no.
The poll also asked voters about their thoughts on The Vow and the Internal Market Bill.
It said: “Before the 2014 independence referendum, the three largest anti-independence parties issued a “Vow” promising that the Scottish Parliament is permanent. If the changes to the Scottish Parliament’s powers proposed by the Internal Market Bill take effect without the Scottish people agreeing to them in a new referendum, do you think The Vow will have been kept or broken?”
READ MORE: James Kelly: Another record broken as new poll puts Yes vote on 56 per cent
Some 63% responded that The Vow would be broken, while 37% thought it would have been kept.
The Internal Market Bill has been met by significant controversy both in Scotland, across the UK and in the EU and the United States.
In Scotland, the focus has been on the bill’s intention to create a single “UK market” post Brexit.
Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said the bill would “fundamentally undermine” the Scottish Parliament which has refused to give its consent to the bill.
In the EU and in Ireland the bill has been controversial over its provisions to override the Northern Ireland protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement.
This provision in the bill was intended to ensure that there would be no return to a hard border if there was a No-Deal Brexit. US president-elect Joe Biden has said the UK won’t get a trade deal with the US if the provision remains.
Earlier this week, peers voted by 433 to 165 to strip out the clauses which would allow the UK to renege on its obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement.
The House of Lords voted resoundingly to remove controversial clauses from the legislation on Monday night, as peers accused the Government of behaving like a “third world dictatorship”.
In a major defeat for Johnson, peers sought to expunge sections of the Internal Market Bill which ministers admitted would break international law in a “very specific and limited way”.
Peers voted to strip out clauses allowing the UK to renege on obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement. During the debate, Tory grandee Lord Clarke warned that the legislation was a “rather Donald Trump-like gesture” and urged peers to join him in voting against the Government.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, warned it could have “unintended and serious consequences for peace in Northern Ireland".
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