LABOUR have a 10-point lead over the SNP in a new Scottish opinion poll.
Redfield and Wilton’s tracker found support for Keir Starmer’s party sat at 39% among Scots, with the SNP on 29%, excluding undecided voters.
This is among the biggest leads recorded for the party since May 2013 and the highest share of the vote since October 2013 recorded by any polling firm, the company said.
Pollsters also recorded support for the Tories in Scotland up three points to 17% compared with their previous survey in early May.
Including undecided voters, Labour’s lead over the SNP narrows slightly to 9%, while around 10% of those polled said they were yet to make up their minds.
The survey found that exactly half of all 2019 SNP voters had abandoned the party, with 27% going to Labour, and 3% going to the Greens and the same for Alba.
Of the rest, 2% said they would vote for the Tories and the same proportion for the LibDems while 10% were undecided.
However, there was good news for SNP leader John Swinney who recorded his first Redfield and Wilton net approval rating with 2%. Starmer had a net approval rating of 4%, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had a net rating of minus 34%.
Speaking before the release of the Redfield and Wilton poll on Tuesday, the First Minister (above) said he was determined to see the SNP “win this election in Scotland”.
During a visit to Bonnington House Nursery in Edinburgh, Swinney said: “I’m really clear that this is a tough election for the SNP. We’ve had a rough period, that’s why I’m here.
“I didn’t expect to be leading the SNP election campaign, but I am – and I’m here to make sure that we win this election in Scotland.
“There’s four weeks of campaigning to go. I want to build SNP support towards polling day.
“We’re focused on taking an energetic, hopeful message to the people of Scotland which is based on the principle that decisions made in Scotland should be for Scotland, and SNP MPs elected to the House of Commons can be relied upon to put Scotland’s interests first.”
It comes after Swinney clashed with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (below) in the first leaders debate on Monday night, with both accusing each other of spending cuts and austerity agendas.
The First Minister also failed to say whether he backed new oil and gas licences, which Labour and the Greens are opposed to, saying only that they must be subject to climate compatibility tests.
Meanwhile, Scottish voters also said they preferred Swinney for First Minister over Sarwar or Douglas Ross.
And the independence question found that 49% of voters would vote No in a referendum while 46% backed Yes with the remainder undecided.
It comes after a YouGov projection predicted a 194 seat majority for Labour, with the party expected to make significant gains across the central belt of Scotland.
That poll, which before Nigel Farage’s bombshell announcement he would take over as Reform UK leader, predicted a drubbing for the Tories who would be reduced to just 140 seats while the SNP were expected to take 17.
Redfield and Wilton polled 1000 Scots between June 1 and 2.
