UK DUers or people who know: is there a (small "r") republican movement in Scotland?

[Recursion]

How much of the independence movement is republican vs. maintaining a personal union with E2?

[Aerows]

1. I think they just want to be independent from the UK

and Scandinavia is welcoming them with open arms (as they should).

Good conversation, though. Ultimately, it should rest in the hands of the people of Scotland.

Skål!

[sibelian]

2. Not really.

The Tory vote collapsed after Thatcher and hasn't recovered. It's pretty much inconceivable that it will ever recover.

Scotland is now overwhelmingly left wing, with almost no ring wing counterpart. That's not to say that the Scots don't have a small "c" conservative streak... not sure if that's comparable to a small "r" republican streak...

[Recursion]

3. Well, a small "r" Republican would be left-wing, yeah?

Tories were monarchists.

I'm asking how much of Scotland wants to become a republic vs. remaining with Elizabeth II as head of state.

[sibelian]

4. aaaaah sorry

That's a subject I'm not very clear on myself. My own feeling is that throwing away the monarchy is silly. There are soft powers associated with royalty that aren't recoverable once you've walked away from them. There are drawbacks, of course.

I think Elizabeth is very popular in Scotland, but also that she's very low on the list of priorities in terms of the referendum. I've seen almost nothing said about her in any of the indy e-literature. I know of no republican movement in Scotland at all. There are people who want rid of her, for sure, but I don't think anyone regards them as particularly significant.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. It's a bit stronger than in England, but not enough to be likely to feature in politics

From 2012 - the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year, so pro-monarchy feeling was doing well:

Britain would be worse off without the monarchy say 69% of respondents, while of 22% say the country would be better off. This 47-point royalist margin is the largest chalked up on any of the 12 occasions since 1997 on which ICM has previously asked the question.

Pro-royal feeling is spread remarkably equally among the social classes, and across the regions of England and Wales. It is less marked in Scotland – where 36% say the country would be better off without the Windsors – but even there a solid 50% feel the opposite way. Support is stronger among the older, and especially among Conservative voters, in whose ranks it reaches 82%. But across every age group and among Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters alike, the monarchy is enjoying solid support.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/24/queen-diamond-jubilee-record-support

A recent poll had, for "If Scotland votes YES, do you think they should keep the Queen as head of state, or should they have an elected head of state instead?", 64% Queen, 31% elected. Among the Yes voters, that was 40% Queen, 46% elected (69-18 among 'Noes'). The Yes campaign has been definite about the plan being for retaining QE2 - the republican votes are largely in the bag for them already, and among those who might be persuaded, support for the monarchy is probably quite high. It would also look too much like Salmond trying to set up a retirement position for himself ...

[Recursion]

6. Obviously the Jubilee gives her something of bump, but still

That seems a pretty clear result...

[Ken Burch]

7. Well there are posters like this...

not sure how deep anti-monarchist sentiment runs, overall