FIGURES from across the SNP, Greens and Alba have reacted to news of a poll showing a pro-independence majority after the next Holyrood election.
A Find Out Now survey of 1774 people for The National showed that the SNP would make up the bulk of the majority after the next Scottish election.
Overall, it showed a total of 72 pro-independence MSPs, a clear majority of 15 in a parliament with 129 seats.
Under modelling from John Curtice, the SNP would return 54 MSPs, the Greens 15 and Alba three.
SNP reaction
A range of SNP figures have reacted to the news, including SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
Polling also showed a reversal of fortunes for the SNP at Westminster, with figures suggesting they could return 41 Scottish seats while Labour would secure just eight if a General Election was held.
Responding to the Holyrood figures, Flynn said on Twitter/X: “Things you love to see.”
His deputy in Westminster Pete Wishart meanwhile also said it meant his party could look forward to 2025 with “hope and optimism”.
He said: “This is a remarkable poll and shows the change in the SNP’s fortunes since John Swinney took over the leadership of the party.
“We went into 2024 fretful and down hearted. We now look forward to 2025 with hope and optimism.”
Elsewhere, former SNP MP John Nicolson said: “History sometimes takes speedy and unexpected turns.
“If Starmer’s Labour is the best Union offers us after all these years of Tory rule surely a future like Denmark in the EU is infinitely better for our future?”
Scotland’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson meanwhile described the results of the poll as “hugely encouraging”.
Scottish Greens
The poll was also a positive for the Scottish Greens, suggesting they would more than double their current total of seven MSPs to 15.
In a post on Twitter/X, the party’s leader Lorna Slater (below) pointed out that this would be a “record number of Green MSPs”.
Green activist Niall Christie meanwhile heaped praise on “ordinary members and councillors pulling leadership to the left” and saying that “voters can see a genuinely radical alternative in the Greens”.
However, he also said: “We need to continue to put clear water between the Greens and other parties.
“We’re the only part of the left and we need to be making that case above all else, unapologetically, between now and 2026.”
Alba
Alba’s general secretary Chris McEleny said the poll “shows we are winning public support and would win seats at the Scottish Parliament”.
He told The National: “It is now our aim to return a significant vote for independence at the Holyrood elections so that we can become part of a pro-independence coalition to advance the cause of Scotland.”
Ash Regan, who serves as the Alba’s Holyrood leader after defecting from the SNP, also shared the poll on social media, highlighting it would be an “electoral breakthrough” for the party.
Find Out Now polled 1774 Scottish adults aged 18+ between December 17 and 24.
