Twitter/'X' polls are not 'scientific' but they're interesting all the same, providing occasional snapshots.
And they often raise more questions.
Consider this one (still live at the time of writing):
Almost as soon as we tweeted the poll, there were responses such as: 'You're asking the wrong question', 'It's not relevant now because the indyref vote skewed everything', 'Any re-run must include EFTA' etc.
Aside from the obvious flaws in the poll e.g. there can't be another referendum tomorrow and it wouldn't be the same question and it doesn't present any possible third option (such as abstension), the response is still worth consideration.
A reminder: in the 2016 Brexit vote, 62% of Scots voted to remain in the European Union, while 38% voted to leave. This was the highest 'Remain' vote in any region of the UK.
So, if our wee poll suggests that approximately 20%, given the chance, would not vote for EU membership, that's a straight fifth off the 62%. And that brings us as close to 50-50 as makes no difference.
There are follow-up questions to ask which could help clarify the picture but the overall take-away is that any 'Brentry' vote now would surely return a very different result. (We thought the % changing their minds would've been higher considering events in the past seven years: many citizens are highly skeptical about the EU's behaviour across a range of topics, from the handling of 'covid', sabre-rattling with Russia via unquestioning support for Ukraine, ever-closer links/partnerships with undemocratic globalist organisations such as NATO and the WEF, and now, an apparent inability to condemn genocide happening in plain view.)
But this poll, and many others like it, raise an overarching question which more and more Scots are beginning to ask themselves: have we exhausted the conventional UK democratic process?
The work of Sara Salyers, Alf Baird and many others have established beyond reasonable doubt that the constitutional case for Scottish independence rests on recognition that the people are 'sovereign'. If that is accepted then a whole raft of other questions emerge, none of which make pleasant viewing for unionist apologists. A few examples, off the top of our head:
If the people are sovereign then the 1707 union (completely undemocratic) is null, isn't it? If not, then what perversion of logic excuses the description of a state as 'democratic' when the people living and working there had no say in the constitution? How does that work?
If the people are 'sovereign' and are obliged to replace any leader who gets too big for his/her boots, what are we to do when there is no 'leader' to hoof? Right now, no-one is representing Scotland on the world stage. We've been over this previously: Off-Topic Scotland | Scotland's first president (offtopicscotland.com)
The Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election, held almost 7 weeks ago amidst huge media attention, moved 37% of the electorate to vote.
Last week's Motherwell South-East/Ravenscraig by-election drew a turnout of 20%
There is no disguising the fact that this level of public engagement is unacceptable in any functioning 'democracy'. Yes, we can look at other systems such as sortition, but with no power to effect any meaningful change and no effective government we can appeal to, the responsibility falls back on us to find a way out.
Unfortunately, this is the logical terminus of any discussion based on Scots being sovereign. It may have been a Marvel hero who said 'With great power comes great responsibility' but the corollary also applies- if you don't take responsibility then you can't expect to have any power.
No-one is going to help us - not the EU, not Westminster and not, it would seem, our own parliament in Holyrood. Not even Spider-Man.
We have to do it ourselves.
To that end, we encourage all readers to join Colette Walker's Twitter/X 'space' tomorrow evening. The whole topic of 'Freeports' is very important in itself but so too is the process through which citizens become aware of - and then engaged with - such issues.
We don't watch mainstream media (aside from whatever clips make their way to social media) so we don't know if freeports have been discussed in 'normal' political/news discourse. So, for us, tuning-in to hear Colette and others speak about it all is vital homework. We're looking forward to learning a lot and, hopefully, meeting new people with the kind of positive attitude that can take us forward.
Remember - tomorrow, 7.30, on Twitter. Keep an eye on: (19) Colette Walker (@coletteisp) / X (twitter.com)
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