It’s a Highland Swing! Labour are now backed by more Scottish voters than the SNP for only the third time since 2014 with Keir Starmer’s party opening up a two-point lead over the nationalists to put him on course for No10

Labour are now backed by more Scottish voters than the SNP, a new poll has shown. 

The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey put Labour on 36 per cent support in Scotland, when voters were asked who they would back at a general election.

This was two percentage points ahead of the SNP (34 per cent) and far ahead of the Conservatives (17 per cent), Liberal Democrats (six per cent) and Reform (three per cent).

It is the first time Labour have led in Redfield & Wilton polling as they track Scottish voting intention for a Westminster contest.

The survey is also only the third time Labour has led the SNP in any poll conducted by any company since 2014, which was the year of the Scottish independence referendum.

It is another huge boost to Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes of leading Labour to victory at the general election, which is expected next year.

A revival of Labour’s fortunes in Scotland has long been regarded as key to the party’s chances of forming a government at Westminster again.

The latest Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey put Labour on 36 per cent support in Scotland, when voters were asked who they would back at a general election

It is the first time Labour have led in Redfield & Wilton polling as they track Scottish voting intention for a Westminster contest

Rishi Sunak has sunk to a net approval rating of -32 per cent among Scottish voters – his lowest approval rating ever and down 13 percentage points from last month

 When asked who would be a better PM between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, 41 per cent of Scottish voters said the Labour leader and 21 said the Tory leader

When asked whether they would support Scottish independence at a referendum, 48 per cent said ‘No’ and 46 per cent said ‘Yes’

Philip van Scheltinga, director of research at Redfield & Wilton, said: ‘I cannot say enough what a crucial story Labour’s revival in Scotland is.

‘Not just in terms of seats that they will win in Westminster but also what it means for voters in England and Wales: the threat of a Labour-SNP coalition and the possible break up of the Union becomes increasingly remote.

‘If you remember from 2015, the possibility of such a coalition was very persuasive in getting otherwise Liberal Democrat or UKIP voters to vote for the Conservatives, under the line that any vote for anyone but the Conservatives was a vote for a dangerous coalition between Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon.

‘That attack line is gone.’

At the last general election, in December 2019, the SNP took 45 per cent of the vote in Scotland and won 48 seats, with the Tories in second (25 per cent vote share, six seats) and Labour in third (19 per cent, one seat).

The latest Redfield & Wilton poll showed Labour’s increased vote share had come from a fifth of Conservative (21 per cent) and SNP voters (22 per cent) from 2019 switching to Sir Keir’s party.

It also revealed how Rishi Sunak had sunk to a net approval rating of -32 per cent among Scottish voters – his lowest approval rating ever with the pollster and down 13 percentage points from last month.

The poll found that 53 per cent of Scottish voters disapproved of the Prime Minister’s overall job performance, with 21 per cent approving.

A majority of Scottish voters (62 per cent) said the current UK Government is incompetent, compared to only 15 per cent who said it was competent.

Sir Keir’s net approval rating among Scottish voters stood at one per cent, down 10 points from Redfield & Wilton’s previous poll.

Around one-third (31 per cent) of Scottish voters approved of the Labour leader’s job performance, against 30 per cent who disapproved.

When asked who would be a better PM between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir, 41 per cent of Scottish voters said the Labour leader and 21 said the Tory leader.

Almost two-fifths (38 per cent) said they don’t know.

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s latest net approval rating was -14 per cent, which was down 10 percentage points from last month.

Only a quarter (26 per cent) of Scottish voters approved of his job performance, compared to 40 per cent who disapproved.

When asked whether they would support Scottish independence at a referendum, 48 per cent said ‘No’ and 46 per cent said ‘Yes’.

A further six per cent said they didn’t know how they would vote.#

• Redfield & Wilton polled 1,054 voters in Scotland online between 26-27 November.

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