Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation could be the beginning of the end of the SNP’s dominance in Scotland, according to a new poll that puts Labour almost neck-and-neck with her party. A YouGov survey, which concluded on the day she stepped down as First Minister, has found that 27 percent of Scots say they would back Labour at a General Election compared with 29 percent for the Scottish National Party.
The results also indicate that support for independence plummeted before she quit amid mounting pressure over her gender recognition bill and the running of public services.
The poll for the Scottish Election Study found that 45.6 percent of Scots would now vote ‘yes’ to independence.
This is a drop of five points since November – excluding undecided voters.
With undecided and non-voters removed, Labour was on 35.4 percent, with the SNP on 38.2 percent.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Labour thinks Ms Sturgeon’s resignation gives them a golden opportunity to mount a major comeback in their former Scottish heartlands because they don’t think her potential successors are as effective.
In his keynote speech at the Scottish Labour conference in Edinburgh yesterday, Anas Sarwar, the party’s leader in Scotland, said the SNP would spend the coming weeks “talking to themselves, about themselves” whereas Labour is now “ready for government”.
He added: “People are once again looking to Labour to offer the solutions to the problems we face.
“They are willing to give us a hearing because we have listened to them.”
The YouGov poll found that 15.5 percent of people said they would vote for the Tories if there was a General Election tomorrow, with the Liberal Democrats on 5.6 percent, again excluding undecided and non-voters.
READ MORE; Harry and Meghan branded ‘laughing stock’ in US over South Park
Labour plans to have the message at the next election of saying people have a choice between Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak to be Prime Minister, and not mention the SNP.
The SNP was said to have been planning to make the next election a “de facto referendum” on independence but this strategy has been thrown into disarray by Ms Sturgeon’s resignation.
At his party’s conference yesterday, Mr Sarwar insisted Scottish Labour was now an unashamedly a “pro-growth, pro-business” party.
This was an attempt to disassociate himself from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard, his predecessor as Scottish leader.
One of his policies that he unveiled was a “£1 homes” scheme for the Scottish government to buy empty or derelict properties.
The sites would then be sold to people for £1, who would then receive a government-backed loan to “transform them into homes that will be lived in and loved”.
DON’T MISS
Biden mentally fit to be POTUS but physician reveals one problem [REPORT]
Man froze to death after being put in prison freezer as ‘punishment’ [PICTURED]
Sunak warned by Eurosceptics as he takes surprise Belfast trip [ANALYSIS]
But Scottish Tories chairman Craig Hoy said Mr Sarwar was “taking voters for fools” by saying that Labour would stand up to the SNP and protect the Union.
He added: “The truth is Anas Sarwar’s party vote with the SNP 90 percent of the time, while naively touting more constitutional concessions in a doomed bid to placate them.
“He has been gushing in his praise for Nicola Sturgeon instead of calling out her record of failure.”
The YouGov poll also found that more than three-quarters of people think the economic situation has declined over the past year.
When asked who was to blame, 32 percent said the UK Government, 26 percent blamed the Scottish government and 28 percent blamed both.
