SNP reel as polls show Tory surge will gain ‘12 seats’

NICOLA Sturgeon is facing a backlash from voters angry about her new bid to break up Britain – and it is set to help trigger the resurgence of the Tories in Scotland.

Bombshell opinion polls published yesterday reveal that the Scottish Conservatives stand to win up to a dozen seats and one in three of the votes in Scotland in June’s snap General Election.

The SNP faces losing up to 11 of the 56 seats it won in 2015, as growing numbers of pro-Union supporters fear a vote for the Nationalists would be used by the First Minister to push for an independence referendum. The polls suggest swathes of the country – especially in the south and northeast – could turn from yellow to blue.

They also indicate no significant rise in support for separation.

A Tory spokesman said: ‘The Nationalists said in 2015 that a vote for the SNP would not be a vote for independence.

‘Since then, their idea of standing up for Scotland has been to agitate for an unwanted second referendum.

‘Only the Scottish Conservatives will protect the Union and take on the SNP in constituencies across the country.’

According to polling firm Panelbase, 33 per cent of Scots voters plan to vote Tory in June, compared with 15 per cent two years ago. Some 44 per cent intend to back the SNP, compared with 50 per cent in 2015.

This means the Tories will go from one to 12 seats – their best result since the 1970s – while the SNP will slip from 56 seats after the 2015 election to 45.

The poll indicates that Labour will lose its last seat as its vote share slides to 13 per cent, while the Lib Dems could gain a seat despite its vote share falling to 5 per cent. Meanwhile, a Survation poll put support for the Tories at 28 per cent and for the SNP at 43 per cent, with Labour at 18 per cent and the Lib Dems at 9 per cent. That would mean the SNP will lose nine seats, the Tories will win eight, Labour will hold on to their one seat and the Lib Dems will gain two seats.

Before the 2015 election, polls showed around 33 per cent of SNP voters were opposed to a new independence referendum but would still give the Nationalists their backing. Yesterday’s Survation poll showed only 13 per cent of No voters intend to support the SNP.

It also revealed that 53 per cent of Scots would vote No in an independence referendum – meaning there has been no spike in support for separation since Mrs May ruled out a vote.

Polling expert John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said: ‘The Scots Tory revival continues apace and is now on a scale that could threaten the SNP’s vice-like grip on Scottish representation at Westminster.’

The polls indicate that SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson, in Moray, and Scottish Affairs Committee chairman Pete Wishart could lose their seats.

SNP Business Convener Derek Mackay said: ‘The more Tory MPs there are in Scotland, the heavier the price we will all pay, with pensioners now in the Tories’ sights. The Tories think they can do what they want to Scotland and get away with it. We won’t let them.’

Scottish Labour General Election campaign manager James Kelly said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn has categorically ruled out any deal with the SNP because there is nothing progressive about breaking up Britain.

‘That means there are only two outcomes in this election: a Labour government for the many, not the few, or a Tory government intent on a hard Brexit that will hand Nicola Sturgeon yet another grievance in her pursuit of a divisive second independence referendum.’

‘Scots Tory revival continues apace’