Support for independence ‘drops to 50% for first time since June’
Support for Scottish independence has dropped to 50 per cent for the first time since June last year, a new poll suggests.
A Survation survey of 1,000 Scots for the Sunday Mail found that support for separation has fallen, losing a lead built in the past nine months that bolstered the confidence of supporters heading into May's Holyrood elections.
According to the poll, when undecided voters are removed, support evens out at 50 per cent for both sides.
When undecided voters are included, however, the Yes supporting side loses its lead by 44 per cent to 43 per cent, with 13 per cent people saying they do not yet know how they would vote.
A Survation poll done for the Scot Goes Pop blog in January gave independence supporters a 51 per cent to 49 per cent edge.
The poll will bring hope for supporters of the Union, who have watched as support for independence has grown since their referendum win with 55 per cent of the vote in 2014.
Pamela Nash, the chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: "It's welcome that support for remaining in the UK is on the rise.
"People are recognising that as we navigate out of the Covid crisis with a successful Ukwide vaccination programme, we are stronger together.
"The SNP is obsessed with trying to divide Scotland, but the priority should be working together on a recovery for everyone in the country."
But SNP depute leader Keith Brown has said polls are tightening as May's Holyrood elections near.
He said: "The SNP continues to have Scotland's best interest at heart, and will work hard every day to maintain the trust and confidence of the Scottish people.
"The people of Scotland have shown, in poll after poll and election after election, that they place their trust in Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to lead
Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.
"May's election offers Scotland two choices: more broken promises and austerity measures under Boris Johnson, or the right to decide if Scotland has a progressive future within the European Union as an independent country.
"With both votes SNP, we can deliver a strong, fair and green recovery and put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands not Boris Johnson's."
The news comes as the past few days have been dominated by the evidence of former First Minister Alex Salmond before the Scottish Parliament Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints.
Mr Salmond has previously accused some in the highest echelons of the SNP of engaging in a "malicious and concerted" effort to exclude him from public life, claims he repeated during a six-hour
committee appearance.
Fieldwork for the poll was conducted on Thursday, the day before Mr Salmond appeared before the inquiry, but 39 per cent of those asked, according to the Sunday Mail, said they believe there to have been some sort of "cover-up" in the Scottish Government's handling of harassment complaints against the former First Minister.
Long waits for eating disorders treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic are putting lives at risk, a senior medic from the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned.
Dr Agnes Ayton, chair of the college's faculty of eating disorders, said families and medical staff are left to shoulder the burden of knowing patients are deteriorating while they wait for an inpatient bed or psychological treatment.
The need for social distancing in dilapidated buildings has meant fewer beds are available, exacerbating a situation that was already poor even before the pandemic, she said.
There are currently 455 adult inpatient beds in the UK for eating disorders and people can face long waits for a space, while some are sent miles from their homes.
"Beds have been reduced in the pandemic due to infection control issues," Dr Ayton told the PA news agency.
"The vast majority of NHS hospitals, particularly adult services, are all dilapidated buildings and very small rooms.
"During the pandemic, we cannot run to the same level of capacity in hospitals but this means our list of people waiting for a bed has grown.
"The number of people referred for admission with severe eating disorders is a small proportion... but you're talking about people who are at really high risk of dying or at potential risk of dying."
Before the pandemic, adult patients in Dr Ayton's region, which includes Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, would wait "three to four weeks depending on urgency for admission, but it's now more than two months".
She added: "This is even (in patients) with an extremely low BMI (body mass index), and even with potentially life-threatening conditions.
"That puts an enormous pressure on everyone, so obviously on patients and the family, but also staff, who want to help them.
"It is very, very stressful." Dr Ayton said NHS England has committed to investing in community services "but we're talking about a very slow timescale".
She added: "We have a large patient population who need help and would benefit from help - there is a sense of urgency on the ground."
Asked if lives were at risk, she said: "Yes and it's not just me saying that, colleagues say that and several coroners have said the same thing."
According to Dr Ayton, the pandemic has led to a rise in people with eating disorders seeking help from charities but there is no official data.
Meanwhile, on the ground, those working in adult services are seeing "an increase in emergency and severity".
She added: "During the pandemic, there's a lot of anxiety and a lot of uncertainty, and there has also been uncertainty about food.
"People have been buying things that may last longer. Some of these foods - like pasta or biscuits - can be trigger food for people who are bingeing or who have bulimia. Because of the lockdown, people's social networks and their social support systems have also reduced quite significantly.”