IT started as a simple idea for a television programme but the possibility of Berwick returning to Scotland is now gaining significant political momentum.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has indicated support for the town's move north of the border if residents voted that way in a referendum.
The debate has also reached the House of Commons where Scottish Nationalist MP Pete Wishart called fo
r ministers in Westminster and Holyrood to start the negotiation process.
However, a new poll on The Berwick Advertiser website suggests there may not be such resounding support for such a move with only 20% favouring Berwick's return to Scotland and 77% against.
This was backed up by another poll on sister newspaper The Berwickshire News website in which 69% said they did not want Berwick to be part of Berwickshire.
These results are in stark contrast to a different poll in last week's Berwick Advertiser when 78% felt Berwick would be 'better off' north of the border.
Coun Isabel Hunter, leader of Berwick Borough Council, said: "People in Berwick do realise there is a financial difference living south of the border and these poll results show all they want is a fair deal."
The whole issue was sparked by ITV Tonight which held an unofficial referendum asking residents whether they thought Berwick would be better off in Scotland.
Just over 60% from nearly 2000 people polled said they wanted Berwick to become part of Scotland with the same free public services currently enjoyed by Scots.
The debate prompted Christine Grahame, the nationalist MSP for South of Scotland, to table a parliamentary motion at Holyrood urging Berwick's 'return to the fold'.
SNP colleague Pete Wishart, MP for North Tayside, took it a step further on Tuesday when he tabled an early day motion welcoming the results of the ITV Tonight referendum and calling for these views to be recognised.
However, Berwick MP Alan Beith, tabling a separate motion, said: "The so-called poll conducted by ITV's Tonight programme was conducted by asking a limited number of people in the street whether they thought Berwick would be better off in Scotland.
"The ITV programme identified the genuine concern that Berwick and other parts of England do not enjoy the free personal care for the elderly and free student tuition rescued by Liberal Democrats when they were part of the coalition government in Scotland, and do not enjoy the higher spending levels on schools, highways and other public service financed under the Barnett formula."
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has admitted he would start legal moves to bring Berwick back under Scottish control if the town's residents voted to leave England in a referendum.
Writing in a Sunday newspaper, the First Minister said: "We have no territorial ambitions for any part of England. But if it were to be agreed by Westminster that the views of the people of Berwick should be respected, I am sure any government in Edinburgh would be happy to welcome them home."
However, the First Minister said while it was clear that there was "significant support" for Berwick to become Scottish, it was wrong to see the debate solely in terms of public services and money.
Mr Salmond said: "We prefer to look on the views of the people of Berwick as an indication they prefer the policy programme of Edinburgh to the diktat of faraway London.
"It is a flattering appraisal of how well the Scottish Government is doing in Scotland that the folk of Berwick are looking enviously over the border at the benefits this administration is bringing to the people of Scotland."
ITV Tonight made its programme to highlight concerns about the inequalities between Scotland and England's public services: with the Scots getting free personal care for the elderly, free higher education, prescriptions and better access to new medicines.
The programme-makers said: "The government funding formulas for the national regions are increasingly a subject of great debate for politicians and social commentators, particularly since the SNP, who are campaigning for Scottish independence, came to power.
"Latest public-spend figures indicate that each Scot now gets £1500 more per head spent on them from public funds than their English neighbour."
Lord Barnett, who came up with the much criticised Barnett Formula while treasury secretary in 1977, has himself called for the introduction of a fairer solution.
But Mr Salmond warned: "Scotland has bankrolled the state of the United Kingdom over the last 30 years with hundreds of billions of pounds flooding into the London Treasury.
"The idea that you could just lop off billions of pounds from Scotland is unbelievable. Do people think it's going to be acceptable to say we'll just cut billions of pounds from Scotland and we'll keep taking the oil revenues out of the North Sea? That's not equitable, that's not fair."
