Labor on track to defeat SNP in next election

Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar (left) says the new poll results are «phenomenal». Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images.

The Labor Party is on track to defeat the SNP in Scotland in the next general election for the first time since 2010, according to new poll.

The Sunday Times Panelbase poll comes after Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister , was arrested and released without charge last Sunday. the next general election to be held no later than January 2025.

The Labor Party will win 26 of the existing 59 Scottish seats in Westminster, up from one currently, while the Conservatives are projected to win seven and the Scottish Liberal Democrats five, adding one extra seat each.

Scottish Police's investigation into missing funds from the Scottish Independence Campaign, codenamed Operation Branchform, led to Ms Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell, being arrested in April and released without charge. Last month, he resigned as chief executive of SNP.

Sir John Curtis, a professor at the University of Strathclyde and a polling expert, said voters appear to have been much more affected by Ms. Sturgeon's policy. arrest.

“[This] undermined the confidence of Yes supporters in her and her party, unlike the arrest of her husband two months ago,” he said.

For the latest poll, Panelbase polled 1,007 people aged 16 and over in Scotland between June 12 and 15.

The poll found that 34% of SNP voters said they would vote for a party in the next general election, which five points down from the last Panelbase poll in March.

That puts him on par with the Labor Party. , up three points from the same period, while the Conservatives would gain 18% and the Liberal Democrats and others 7% each, the poll shows.

In an interview with Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Anas Sarwar, leader of Scottish Labor, said it was «phenomenal» to go head to head with the SNP after falling far behind when he took the helm more than two years ago.

Poll shows Ms. Sturgeon's popularity has fallen 38 points to -18 since February.

Humza Yousaf, the first minister, has a rating of -12, while Anas Sarwar scored -2, and Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, at -34.

Poll: Nicola Sturgeon favors

The poll also showed that 44 per cent of those polled said Scotland should be an independent country, half said it shouldn't and the rest didn't know. Speaking during his speech at Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Sarwar ruled out an independence referendum in the next parliament if Labor wins the election.

«We want to make Keir Starmer prime minister for all of the UK, it doesn't make sense for us to say that we had a period of chaos after 13 years of the Conservatives, 16 years of the SNP in Scotland, and we are going to plunge our country into chaos again. No, but at the same time, I understand that people want change.»

Keith Brown, Deputy Leader of the SNP, said: «After several difficult weeks for the party, support for the SNP remains strong, but we will continue to take nothing for granted and work every day for the good of the people of Scotland. Only the full power of independence can protect Scotland from the damage caused by Brexit and the mismanagement of Tory governments that Scotland does not vote for. The SNP remains the political force behind these changes.”