Yes voters in favour of Brexit helped party

Yes voters abandoning the SNP helped Ruth Davidson revive her party’s fortunes in Scotland, says a renowned professor.

John Curtice, from Strathclyde University, said the Scottish Conservatives achieved the unlikely feat of winning over Brexit-backing independence supporters in June’s election.

It explains why 8% of those who voted SNP in 2015 switched to the Tories two years later, according to analysis revealed by Professor Curtice at the Conservative conference.

The politics professor said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s problem north of the border is that at least a quarter, maybe a third, of SNP / Yes voters voted to Leave.

“It’s that section of SNP support that has tended to fall away in particular since 2015 and it is this party (the

Tories) amongst others that is particularly profiting.”

The Conservative vote has increased as much among Yes voters as those who said No since May 2016, Professor Curtice added.

Nearly half (46%) of Leave voters backed the Scottish Tories in this year’s general election, up 22 points in two years, according to his study of data from British Election Study.

It has meant Ms Davidson’s party is profiting from Brexit even though she campaigned for Remain.

The Conservatives saw their Westminster seat tally increase from one to 13 in Scotland in this year’s general election, following a Tory campaign centred on opposing a second independence referendum.

Other key factors in the revival, Professor Curtice said, were the Tories finally winning over centre-right voters and No voters impressed by Ms Davidson’s stance against Indyref2.