A new poll published in the United Kingdom shows a record number of people in Scotland are now in favor of a secession as London struggles with its bid to leave the European Union.
The YouGov poll published on Saturday showed that 49 percent of people in Scotland were now in favor of breaking away from the UK, a significant increase of four percent compared to a similar poll carried out last year.
The surge comes amid an ongoing dispute over Brexit as the UK government tries to deliver on the results of a June 2016 referendum in which some 52 percent of the UK population voted to leave the EU.
Major political parties in Scotland, however, have renewed their calls for independence, saying more of voters in the region voted to remain in the bloc.
London has dismissed the calls, saying a Scottish independence referendum in 2014, in which some 55 percent of Scots rejected secession, should have settled the row for a generation.
The YouGov poll, carried out for The Times newspaper and covering 1029 adults in Scotland, said that despite a surge in independence-seeking motives among the Scottish voters, some 53 percent of respondents believed another referendum on the issue should be delayed for at least five years from now.
That comes three days after Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she and her Scottish National Party were pushing for another referendum to happen before the current term of the Scottish parliament ends in 2021.
The poll also showed that many Scottish voters were moving away from the two mainstream parties in Britain and joining other political forces.