Majority of Scots now want a snap Holyrood election reveals MoS poll
A MAJORITY of Scots want a snap Holyrood election called in the wake of Humza Yousaf being sworn in as First Minister, researchers have found.
Mr Yousaf came under renewed pressure to prove he has a mandate after it emerged more than half of voters want an election called immediately.
Almost three in five would support a vote being held in the next six months, according to an exclusive Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey for The Scottish Mail on Sunday.
It follows weeks of intense calls on the new SNP leader – even from his own party – to prove the public want him in office. The figures show 52 per cent of voters say there should be a Holyrood election immediately now Mr Yousaf has taken up the role of First Minister.
Meanwhile, 58 per cent say they support an election within the next six months. Holyrood rules dictate a national ballot must be held every five years.
But Mr Yousaf could collapse his administration by resigning and refusing to back other parties’ alternatives for First Minister, forcing the country to go to the polls. Last month, Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil said a vote would stop rivals accusing the SNP of hypocrisy.
His party hit out last year as two Tory Prime Ministers were appointed in quick succession after Boris Johnson quit.
Neither Liz Truss nor Rishi Sunak called a general election to secure their own mandate.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar last month repeatedly called on the eventual winner of the SNP leadership race to hold a Holyrood election.
He said: ‘When Rishi Sunak came to power without an election Nicola Sturgeon said it was a democratic imperative for him to have a mandate.
‘This is an SNP that screams about mandates – let’s be honest the next SNP first minister will not have the mandate.
‘They’ll have Nicola Sturgeon’s record, they won’t have Nicola Sturgeon’s mandate.’
The Redfield & Wilton survey of 1,000 voters – carried out between March 31 and April 1 – is the latest concerning poll for the new First Minister, who was sworn in on March 29.
It comes after one out last Tuesday showed support for the SNP slumped after Mr Yousaf’s first week in the role.
Only 36 per cent said they would vote SNP in a General Election, down nine percentage points on the last Westminster vote in 2019. The figure is lower than in two polls carried out after Mr Yousaf was named as new SNP leader last month.
The gap between the SNP and Labour is down to just five percentage points. Labour is on 31 per cent, up two, followed by the Tories on 19 per cent and the Lib Dems on 10 per cent.
If repeated at an election this would see the SNP losing 20 of its 48 Westminster seats.
An SNP spokesman said: ‘Humza Yousaf was elected First Minister by a majority of MSPs at the Scottish parliament, as happened three times previously when there has been a change of leader for the party of Government. A Scottish parliamentary term is set to a fixed term of five years by the Scotland Act.’
‘The SNP screams about mandates’