A LEAKED internal poll conducted for the Scottish Labour Party has revealed that around one-third of the party’s voters back indyref2.
The revelation will come as difficult reading for the party’s leader, Anas Sarwar, who has taken a hardline stance against a vote since taking the helm.
It also follows claims made by Keir Starmer in a visit to Scotland that his party would “settle” the constitutional debate without asking the Scottish people in a referendum.
Reported by the Daily Record, there is no information on who conducted the poll, or the sample size. However, it found that 30% of Scottish Labour voters support indyref2 “in principle”. Some 57% of the party’s voters disagreed.
READ MORE: What the latest polls suggest for the Tories, Keir Starmer and indyref2
Labour backers were more divided than supporters of rival parties.
Of Scottish Tory voters, 86% said there should not be a second independence referendum, with 10% in favour.
Of SNP voters, 78% said there should be a second vote, while 15% said there should not.
The most recent public polling on the constitutional question, completed by Savanta ComRes for The Scotsman, found a 50/50 split between Yes and No.
That poll also found that, among those who voted Labour at the 2021 Holyrood election, just 32% said there should "never" be a second vote on independence. While 4% said they did not know, 23% backed a vote in the next two years.
A total of 36% backed indyref2 being held in the next five years. The remaining 28% backed it at some point in the future.
Commenting on the leaked poll, SNP MSP Paul McLennan said: “In 2015 hundreds of thousands of former Labour voters switched to the SNP because of their opposition to independence and Labour’s alliance with the Tories.
“Now that their sole MP treats the people of Scotland with the same ‘disdain’ they accuse the Tories of by lobbying to take powers off Holyrood, they are further away than ever from those former supporters and alienating a significant proportion of what’s left of their vote.
“As long as Anas Sarwar, Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour continue to stand in the way of democracy in Scotland they doom themselves to irrelevance.”
Scottish Labour constitution spokesperson Sarah Boyack told the Record: “We are committed to securing Scotland’s place in a renewed and reformed United Kingdom and holding the SNP and Tories to account for their failures on the NHS, education and the cost of living.
“Instead of considering holding a divisive and costly referendum in the middle of a pandemic, Scottish Labour will fight to remove the Tories from office and deliver a brighter future for the people of Scotland.”
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