People in England are becoming increasingly unhappy about the level of public spending enjoyed by Scotland, according to part of the 2007 British Social Attitudes survey by NatCen, the National Centre for Social Research.  

However, the survey also finds that there is little evidence of an ‘English backlash’ against the current devolution settlement, with just one in six people, 17 per cent, in England backing the idea of a separate English parliament, and fewer than one in seven, 14 per cent, wanting an assembly in every region.

These findings will be presented today by Professor John Curtice, research consultant at NatCen, at a seminar with members of the Justice Committee at Westminster. The 2007 data are based on face-to-face interviews between 12 June and 26 November 2007 with a random sample of 859 adults aged 18 plus and resident in England.

The survey uses questions that had also been asked in previous NatCen British Social Attitudes surveys, and it finds that in 2000, just a year after the advent of devolution, only one in five people, 20 per cent, in England felt that Scotland got more than its fair share of public spending. Now that figure has risen to 33 per cent.

But 58 per cent of people in England say that England should continue to be governed from Westminster, little different from the 59 per cent that took that view in 2001.

Fewer than one in six people (16 per cent) in England feel that it would be better for their country if the Union with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were to be ended. Similarly, fewer than one in five people (19 per cent) in England feel that Scotland should become independent, compared with 24 per cent in 1999.

But people in England are unhappy about certain aspects of the current arrangements between the four parts of the UK. As many as three-quarters (75 per cent) agree that ‘now that Scotland has its own parliament, it should pay for its services out of taxes collected in Scotland’. Also, 70 per cent agree that Scottish MPs should no longer be able to vote on English legislation.

Professor John Curtice said: “For the most part there is relatively little evidence of an “English backlash”. But there are signs of possible trouble ahead unless the issue of how public spending is distributed and funded across the UK is seen to be satisfactorily addressed.”