Scots aren’t fooled by SNP’s vapid ‘reboot’

IF ever a party needed a reboot, it is the one-note SNP, haemorrhaging support as its woeful record in power starts to bite and even its separatist zealots realise support for independence is stalled.

Sadly for Nicola Sturgeon, her new package of policies has left voters cold.

Our Survation poll is the first to take the political temperature in Scotland after the Nationalists’ new-look prospectus was unveiled.

The figures indicate the SNP is on track to see its constituency and regional list votes plummet when Scots next go to the polls.

The slump would also mean that there would be no pro-independence majority in the next term of Holyrood – meaning the prospect of another separation vote is dead in the water for at least a decade.

And the figures also confirm the country is still not buying the SNP’s core belief. Support for independence remains lacklustre while a solid 54 per cent of Scots would vote No again to preserve the Union.

And Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has issued an appeal for the other parties to state their position on income tax for a discussion paper.

Superficially, that perhaps looks reasonable, but the reality is that the spendthrift SNP wants more money to burn and is prepared to break a manifesto pledge not to raise the basic rate of income tax to get it. The Greens have been annexed by the separatists and will do as they are told on tax. Meanwhile, Labour and the Lib Dems are similarly keen to have more of other people’s money at their disposal.

So we are set for a straight fight: The low-tax Tories who want to incentivise hard work and attract business, and all the tax-and-spend mob on the other.

Mr Mackay should look closely at the Tory contribution to his tax ‘discussion’.

In its low-tax agenda he might spot the seeds of a proper reboot – one that might gain votes and not lose them.