A MAJORITY of people across the UK think Westminster should allow a second independence referendum within five years, according to a new poll.

The Opinium survey for the Observer found 41 per cent of people thought London should grant a request from the Scottish Government, compared to 32% who said refuse.

Another 22% were undecided, and 5% should the UK government should do neither.

After don’t knows are removed, 52% backed allowing Indyref2, with 41% opposed.

The poll of 2,003 adults respondents was conducted last week.

Among the much smaller Scottish sample of 169, around 54% of decided voters thought the UK Government should allow Indyref2, and 40 thought it should refuse.

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The poll comes just a week after a poll by the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft found 51% of decided Scots voters wanted Indyref2 within two years, and 52% backed Yes.

Last week shadow chancellor John McDonnell said a Labour government in would not block Indyref2.

Former Labour PM Gordon Brown today warned the Union was "sleep walking into oblivion" thanks to the rise of nationalisms, and the lack of a unifying force under Boris Johnson.

"We are, at best, only a precariously united kingdom," he said.

On Brexit, Opinium found 46% of people UK-wide wanted it to happen on October 31, even if it meant crashing out of the EU without a deal; 29% said Brexit should be cancelled, 12% said it should be delayed to get a deal through the Commons, and 14% were undecided.

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The Opinium poll also found the Tories had narrowly extended their Westminster polling lead over Labour, with the Conservatives UK-wide on 31%, Labour 28%, the LibDems 13%, the Brexit Party 16% and the Greens 5%.

In the Scottish sample, the headline voting intention was SNP 44%, Conservative 20%, Labour 18%, LibDems 8%, Greens 5% and Brexit party 4%.

SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said: “UK voters believe it should be up to people of Scotland to decide how they are governed – not a Tory party which has no mandate in Scotland, putting our economy at risk to suit their own political ends.

“This poll shows that Labour and the Tories’ undemocratic stance of denying Scotland the right to choose their future is completely untenable.

“Faced with chaos and uncertainty in Westminster, it's no wonder that support for independence in Scotland is growing.

“And support for independence will continue to rise, in the face of a shambolic Brexit and an incompetent Prime Minister.

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"The Tories can see that – which is what lies behind their utterly undemocratic move to block the people of Scotland having a say on their future."

Adam Drummond, head of political polling at Opinium added: "Boris Johnson's strategy of uniting the Leave vote appears to still be paying off and the message discipline of 'leave by the 31st do or die' has had some effect with an increasing number of voters believing the UK will leave by that date.

“That said, while there is a large gap in Johnson's favour on the 'best prime minister' question, the closeness of the Tory and Labour vote shares shows he still has a way to go to achieve what Theresa May failed to do in 2017."