Nationalists softer on immigration and identity than Brexiteers

The attitudes of Scottish nationalists differ greatly from their Brexiteer counterparts, a survey has found.
The National Centre for Social Research, which produced the survey, said those who supported an independent Scotland held radically different values to those who backed Brexit, including on immigration and national identity.
Only half of Scottish independence supporters believe that a person must be born in Scotland to be “truly” Scottish, unlike 78 per cent of Brexiteers who believe the same is true for Britain.
Likewise, 42 per cent of Scottish nationalists think that a person should have Scottish ancestry to be considered a true Scot, compared with 65 per cent of Brexit supporters on Britain.
However, when looking at the attitudes of the wider population, more Scottish people believed it was important to have been born in Scotland or have Scottish ancestry than Britons did.
The survey has been published as part of the 41st British Social Attitudes report, which has been conducted annually since 1983. The data is drawn from about 3,000 respondents, primarily from England and Scotland.
Sir John Curtice, senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research, said the results were surprising. “Although Scottish identity has been promoted, not least by the SNP, as an inclusive ‘civic’ identity, in fact having Scottish family background is thought by many to be a key ingredient of being Scottish,” he said.
Along with questions about identity, the report also examined attitudes towards immigration and the economy. For supporters of Scottish independence, just 19 per cent thought that immigrants increased crime rates and 13 per cent believed immigrants “took jobs away” from people who were born in Britain.
For Brexit supporters, 57 per cent believed immigrants increased crime rates, and 36 per cent thought jobs in Britain were lost to immigrants.
More than six in ten Scottish independence supporters also believed immigrants were generally good for the economy, compared to fewer than three in ten Brexit supporters.
In June, John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP, said he planned to “engage strongly” with the new Labour government to boost migration to Scotland, although he cast doubt on Sir Keir Starmer’s position.
“The Labour Party has taken a very, very hostile attitude towards immigration and we’d have to see how that would work out in practice,” he said.
Swinney’s predecessor, Humza Yousaf, previously said there “was, and is, overwhelming opposition to Brexit in Scotland,” telling the Financial Times in May that the Scottish and Westminster governments were at odds over the issue of immigration.
“On migration, Scotland and the UK as a whole are facing very different population challenges. At its simplest, the Scottish government is keen to see more people coming to Scotland while the contest at Westminster appears to be over cuts to immigration,” he said.
Four years ago the Scottish government proposed a pilot scheme for a “Scottish visa” which would exempt certain businesses from UK rules on hiring overseas workers introduced after Britain left the EU, but it was blocked by the Home Office.
Before July’s general election Labour appeared open to the visa proposal after the party’s deputy leader in Scotland, Dame Jackie Baillie, said that a Labour government would be prepared to have a “dialogue” about the issue.