58% of people in England and Wales now oppose allowing an independent Scotland to continue to use the pound, up 15 points from late November

Following a week of sniping between Westminster and the Scottish National Party over the matter of whether Scotland could retain the pound as its currency if it became independent, a new YouGov poll finds a majority of the public in England and Wales now oppose allowing an independent Scotland to use the pound.

When the question was last asked in late November last year, people in England and Wales only narrowly opposed a currency union, by 43% to 38% in support. But now, opposition is at 58% and support is at just 23%.

On Thursday chancellor George Osborne, Liberal Democrat Nick Alexander and Labour’s Ed Balls all issued warnings that they would not support the SNP plan to keep the pound, triggering a response from Scotland’s deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon that it was not within their power to prevent it.

The warnings followed the release of an unprecedented letter from the permanent secretary to the Treasury, Sir Nick Macpherson, advising ‘strongly against a currency union’.

Image: Getty

See the full poll results