Newspaper headlines: Reaction to independence referendum By BBC News

Staff Published duration 15 March 2017

image copyright PA

Two days after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon surprised Westminster by announcing she wanted a second referendum on Scottish independence, the papers have a range of opinion polls about public reaction.

The paper says this gives Downing Street some breathing space, since it indicates the debate has not shifted in Ms Sturgeon's favour in recent years.

The Scottish Daily Mail has its own poll, which finds 53% of people opposing independence.

It says this sends a clear message that Scotland "does not want another divisive campaign to break up Britain".

It says the SNP's case is "unravelling" and it has now retreated from its plan for Scotland to join the EU, instead hoping to join the European Free Trade Association.

He says Scottish independence would affect Britain's military bases and would delight Russia by making a truth of Vladimir Putin's claim that the UK is "an irrelevant small island".

An alternative view comes from George Monbiot in the Guardian who argues Scotland is right to "cut the rope".

"Britain is politically dead from the neck down," he says, "while Scotland's politics is charged with hope, and a fierce desire for change."

A European court ruling that companies can ban employees from wearing visible political or religious symbols is welcomed by the Daily Express as "common sense"

The paper says the right to express faith is important but it should not mean that some faiths are given special treatment.

It would be wise not get too excited, it says, as the European Court of Justice writ runs here only as long as the UK remains in the EU.

Internet firms such as Google and Facebook are condemned by the Daily Mail for offering "feeble excuses" for their failure to tackle abusive content on their pages.

Its editorial says the companies were given a "richly deserved pasting" by MPs when their executives appeared before a committee to talk about hate crime and abuse.

"If newspapers printed such material," it thunders, "they would be hauled before the courts."