Brit pack loses grip north of border

Feelings of "Scottishness" have overtaken "Britishness" among supporters of all the main political parties north of the border.

Findings from a Scottish parliamentary election study show a fall in the percentage of people identifying themselves as British since the 1979 devolution referendum.

The drop is most marked among Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters, according to the Economic and Social Research Council-funded study.

The number of Conservatives seeing themselves firstly as Scots rose from 46 per cent in 1979 to 61 per cent in 1999.

David McCrone, co-director of Edinburgh University's governance of Scotland forum, said 98 per cent of those identifying themselves as Scots and 97 per cent of those identifying themselves as British believed the new Scottish Parliament should be "made to work". Two-thirds of "Scots" and a third of "Brits" want it to have more powers.