Almost six months after the Scottish National party’s heavy defeat in the UK general election, polls suggest its fortunes are already reviving as sentiment cools towards Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government. A recent poll also found 54 per cent support for Scottish independence — the SNP’s defining goal — the highest level in four years.
“The UK Labour government hasn’t set the heather alight,” said Ian Blackford, former SNP leader at Westminster. “The key question is whether people are going to feel better off at the end of this parliament, and it doesn’t look that way.”
First minister and SNP leader John Swinney has argued, since taking the top job in May, that to build support for independence his party has to deliver on core voter issues, and show how they could be advanced by breaking away from Westminster.