NEW Scottish independence polling has shown support for Yes rising by two points amid the fallout from Labour Budget.
However, the Survation survey, commissioned by the pro-independence think tank Progress Scotland, found that the Union retained the lead among Scots voters.
With don’t knows removed, the poll of more than 3000 Scottish adults found that 52% supported remaining in the Union, while 48% supported independence.
The results mean Yes has seen an increase of two points since Survation last asked the question in September, while No has fallen by the same amount.
It comes after figures from the same polling showed that the plurality of Scots (34%) thought that independence within the EU represented the best future for the country. A further 8% supported independence outwith the EU.
Elsewhere, 19% supported continuing in the Union but with increased powers for Holyrood. As such, in total, 61% of people wanted increased powers for the Scottish Parliament.
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Conversely, 22% of people supported the constitutional status quo, and 17% of people wanted to see the Scottish parliament abolished.
The SNP welcomed the polling figures, with depute party leader Keith Brown saying: “It's no surprise more people are seeing that Scotland would be better off with the full powers of independence when, after 14 years of cruel Tory governments, Keir Starmer’s Labour government is continuing to force people in Scotland to suffer cuts and being left to struggle.”
He went on: “The problem for Scotland is not just Tory governments, the problem for Scotland is government from Westminster.
“The SNP will continue to set out a better alternative, demonstrating how independence can allow us to properly tackle the challenges facing people in Scotland and build a better, fairer, more prosperous society for everyone.”
He told The National: “Support for independence is now consistently at either half or just over half of the country.
“No political party enjoys anywhere near this which shows that independence is bigger than any one political party can ever be – that is why Alba Party have consistently called for the list vote at the Scottish Parliament election to be used as a means to give people in Scotland a way to vote for independence.”
McEleny went on to reference further polling from Survation which found that, if a Holyrood election were held today, the SNP would remain the largest party – but fall short of a majority even with Green support.
He said: “If an election was held today we may not retain a pro-independence majority, but if independence supporters back Alba Party with their list vote, not only will we have an overwhelming majority in parliament in favour of independence, we will have a group of MSPs in parliament to deliver independence.”
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Responding to the polling, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said that Scots were feeling “rightly let down by a Labour Government that is knowingly plunging pensioners into fuel poverty and arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza”.
He went on: “With the powers of a normal independent country, we could make different choices and build a different future. It would allow us to do so much more to cut our carbon emissions, hold power to account and tackle our shameful levels of child poverty and inequality.
“A union is supposed to be a partnership that benefits all involved, but few would suggest that Scotland has benefited from a disastrous Tory Brexit that has cost jobs and increased prices, deadly nuclear weapons on our shores that are costing hundreds of billions of pounds or a Keir Starmer government that is keeping the cruel two-child benefit cap and cutting Winter Fuel Payments.
“It should not be a case of whether Scotland can decide our own future, but when. Time and again, our parliament has voted to support a referendum only to be blocked by Labour and the Tories.”
The Survation poll surveyed 3016 Scottish adults aged 16 and over between November 1 and 15.
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