THERE are several reasons why Scotland has not yet seen any far-right violence while riots erupted south of the Border – but there is “ no reason for complacency,” Professor John Curtice has argued.
Writing in The Times, the Strathclyde University professor said that the “national identity” rhetoric pushed by groups such as the English Defence League – whose members commonly use the Union flag and St George’s Cross as symbols – would have been “less persuasive” north of the Border.
Curtice said that the issue of migration had generally been less “polarising” in Scottish politics, because the issue is reserved to Westminster, and Scottish governments “of all political stripes have argued that Scotland benefits from migrants, not least to help arrest the relative decline in the country’s population”.
The polling expert also pointed to factors including Scotland’s slightly more liberal attitude to immigration, its lower population of Muslim migrants, and the prominence of public figures such as Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar.
He wrote: “Recent polling conducted by ScotPulse on behalf of Migration Policy Scotland … found in May this year that 42 per cent of people in Scotland wanted immigration reduced, compared with 52 per cent in a Britain-wide poll by Ipsos in February. However, that 42 per cent figure represented a 14-point increase on last year.
“Moreover, like much Britain-wide polling on the subject, opinion on asylum seekers was evenly divided.
“Meanwhile, a systematic comparison of attitudes towards immigration conducted by the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey a few years ago found little difference between attitudes on the two sides of the border.
“So, we should be cautious about assuming Scotland has avoided civil strife simply because of its liberalism towards migrants.”
He went on: “Scotland has a relatively small minority population. For example, according to the latest census just 2 per cent of Scots identify as Muslim, compared with nearly 7 per cent in England.
“Even the figure for Glasgow, where 8 per cent are Muslim, is much lower than the 30 per cent or more in Birmingham, Bradford, and Blackburn. Smaller numbers make it more difficult to portray those from a different background as a ‘threat’.”
However, Curtice said that although the violence has largely been in English towns and cities, “members of Scotland’s ethnic and religious minorities may still share the fear and upset expressed in recent days by those at the wrong end of violence and intimidation”.
His comments echoed those of Scottish Refugee Council chief executive Sabir Zazai, who on Wednesday told the BBC that some people in the communities he works with had been left afraid to go out by the scenes of violence perpetrated by the far-right.
Curtice’s comments come after shops were boarded up in many towns and cities on Wednesday over fears of further rioting after a week of violent disorder which started in Southport.
A stabbing which left three children dead became the focus of a far-right misinformation campaign, with false claims that the attacker had been a Muslim who crossed the Channel on a small boat spreading on social media.
By Wednesday morning, more than 400 people had been arrested after riots around England and Northern Ireland in the wake of the misinformation, reports said, with the number expected to rise.
Officers were understood to be steeling themselves for more than 100 planned protests and potentially around 30 more counter-protests, with gatherings anticipated in 41 of the 43 police force areas in England and Wales on Wednesday evening.
However, in most places, planned anti-immigration protests failed to materialise and, according to Stand Up To Racism, an estimated 25,000 people took to the streets to protest against the racism and violence.
