More than four in 10 voters in Scotland think First Minister Nicola Sturgeon should resign immediately, according to a new poll.
The Panelbase survey found that 42 per cent of respondents thought she should stand down now. Some 45 per cent said she should remain as First Minister at until at least the next Holyrood election and 13 per cent didn’t know.
More than three quarters of those who expressed a view had safety concerns around the Scottish Government's proposed gender laws.
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by MSPs in December and blocked by the UK Government.
The reforms would allow trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) without the need for a medical diagnosis.
The Bill would also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to apply for a GRC for the first time. It would reduce the amount of time a person has to live in their acquired gender before they can be granted the document.
Some 76 per cent of those who expressed a view said they think the Scottish Government’s plans to change the law on gender recognition would pose a safety risk in women-only spaces. These include changing rooms, hospital wards and prisons.
Just under a quarter disagreed.
Sturgeon has said she intends to challenge the UK Government’s use of Section 35 to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill from becoming law.
The survey of 1,415 voters in Scotland was carried out in the past week for The Sunday Times.
It took place as the Scottish Prison Service published its review on the management of transgender prisoners in the wake of the Isla Bryson case.
Transgender prisoner Bryson was convicted last month of raping two women while still a man known as Adam Graham. She was initially housed in an all-female prison before being moved to the male estate.
The poll also found that 15 per cent of those who voted SNP at the last Westminster election said they wanted Sturgeon to resign. Nineteen per cent of people who backed independence in the referendum in 2014 also wanted her to quit.
Just over three-quarters of SNP voters and 72 per cent of Yes voters said they wanted her to remain.
The poll found that finance secretary Kate Forbes was the most popular choice to succeed Sturgeon. Forbes is currently on maternity leave and seven per cent of respondents backed her.
An SNP spokesman said: “Poll after poll consistently shows Nicola Sturgeon is the most popular leader of any political party in Scotland – by a very long way – and this poll is no different.
“Polls also clearly show people across Scotland have no confidence in the Tory Party or their leadership – whether it be the unelected Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or his lackey, Douglas Ross.”
He added: “Whether it be catastrophic economic policies or disastrous Brexit pursuits, Westminster is failing the people of Scotland and they know it.
“Families, businesses and industries across Scotland trust the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon to put them first and offer a better future as an independent country.”
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