MAJORITY BACKS SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE

The SNP today welcomed an opinion poll suggesting a majority of Scots now favour independence. Nationalists are also on track to win more constituency votes than Labour in next May's elections, according to the poll.

SNP Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon claimed the ICM poll for The Scotsman showed Labour "floundering" and her party gaining momentum. But Labour downplayed the findings and said SNP support would slip back.

The poll findings are said to be the first time since 1998 that support for independence has passed the 50% mark. It puts it at 51%, compared to 39% against and 10% don't knows.

On voting intentions, the poll puts the SNP ahead of Labour, at 32% compared to 30%, for the constituency vote.

Both parties are level-pegging at 28% for the list vote. The Liberal Democrats and Tories come 15% and 14% respectively in constituency voting intentions, and 17% and 14% on the list vote.
The Greens score 3% in the constituency vote and 6% in list voting, while the SSP is at 4% in both.

The pollsters calculate the figures would given the SNP 37 seats to Labour's 41, the Liberal Democrats' 25, and the Tories' 17, and the Greens 5.

Nicola Sturgeon said "This election is a two-horse race between the tired, rudderless Labour Party under Mr McConnell and a fresh-thinking SNP with Alex Salmond as our candidate for First Minister.

"There is much for us to do before the election next May, but it's clear that the Scottish people are increasingly convinced that it's time for a change in Scotland, and the SNP are the only party that can deliver the progress people here are crying out for."

She said the poll also showed the failure of Labour's "tired scaremongering" on independence.

"While McConnell and Brown are busy wrapping themselves in the Union Jack, more and more Scots believe that it's time for the Parliament in Holyrood to have the same powers as the parliaments of successful independent counties such as Norway and Ireland," said Ms Sturgeon.

Labour MSP Duncan McNeil commented: "The choice voters will face is between investment in schools and the NHS with Labour, or separation and isolation with the Nationalists. It is difficult to see how levels of support for the SNP can remain at this level."