SCOTS are most likely to have a negative view when it comes to the British Empire, a YouGov poll has shown.
The poll, which examines Scottish attitudes to the British Empire, said that 33% of all people in Britain feel being part of the British Empire is something to be proud of, 21% said they were ashamed, 39% voted neither way, and 8% said they did not know.
However, when focused on Scotland alone, these figures are effectively reversed, with only 22% stating it is something to be proud of and 30% saying it is something to be ashamed of, while 41% voted neither way and 7% said “don’t know”.
One in six Scots (17%) said they wished Britain still had an empire, and about 22% of Britons said the same.
The poll also showed that four in 10 Scots believe Scotland was “more of a subject country in the British Empire” rather than a partner of England.
The YouGov poll found 29% viewed Scotland as “more of a partner with England in the British Empire” while 31% responded “don’t know”.
The survey compared attitudes towards the empire with voting in the 2024 General Election as well as the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
More than half, 55%, of respondents who voted for independence viewed Scotland as a “subject” country while 20% chose “partner”.
A total of 60% of respondents who voted SNP at the general election thought of Scotland as a more of a subject country and 19% believed the country was a partner.
2024 Labour voters were almost evenly divided between “subject” (35%), “don’t know” (32%) and “partner” (33%).
Almost half (46%) of the respondents who voted conservative last year said the country was partnered with England, compared with 27% who said Scotland was a subject of the empire.
Among Scots who said they know a great deal, or fair amount regarding Scotland’s role within the British Empire, the Scotland-as-partner view was more common (50%) than the Scotland-as-subject view (39%).
The results form part of a wider survey on attitudes towards the British Empire.
It surveyed 1067 Scots aged over 16 between July 24 and 29 2024, and 2093 people aged over 18 in Great Britain between July 29 and 30 2024.
YouGov’s analysis of the results state: “It will be no surprise to anyone that negativity towards the British Empire is higher in Scotland than in the wider country.”
Four in 10 of those who said they knew little or nothing about the country’s place in the empire believe Scotland was a subject, whereas 18% viewed the country as a partner.
Some 42% of respondents said Scotland made a fairly, or very large contribution to the empire’s success, and about 30% said the country’s contribution was small.
Nearly three-quarters, 72%, of Scots who saw Scotland as having been more of a partner believed it played a crucial role in the empire’s success, whereas 40% of those who chose the “partner” option believed it played a large role, and 42% said the role was small.
Scots who said they know a great deal or fair amount about Scotland’s involvement in the British Empire are significantly more likely to think Scotland played a large role (77%), while those who confess to knowing less tend to think its role was small (36%) rather than large (22%) – although most said they are likely to answer “don’t know” (41%).
Overall, 35% of Scots think that Scotland benefitted more than it suffered for being part of the British Empire – about the same number who think so of Canada (38%) and Australia and New Zealand (35%), and higher than the number who think Wales benefitted (30%).
Some 73% of Scots surveyed consider England to have benefitted more than it suffered, 16% believed Scotland benefitted as much as it suffered, and 22% said the opposite – a figure that rose to 44% among those who voted for the SNP in 2024.
Almost three-quarters (74%) of respondents said the history of the empire should be taught in schools, and 73% said Scotland’s part to play should also be taught to children.
When it comes to how the subject should be taught, the large majority of Scots surveyed (73%) said teaching “should contain a mixture of positive and negative aspects of the British Empire, so pupils are given a comprehensive balanced view”.
About one in eight (13%) take the view that “teaching should concentrate mainly on the negative aspects of the British Empire, to correct against a historically rosy view of the empire, make sure pupils are under no illusions that imperialism is bad, and make sure that pupils are aware of the harms Britain committed in the past”.
Just 5% said it should take an exclusively pro-empire approach, stating, “teaching should concentrate on mainly the positive aspects of the British Empire, so that pupils are taught to be proud of Britain’s history and accomplishments”.
