ONLY 16% of Scots "strongly" support independence, according to a new YouGov poll commissioned by the pro-UK Better Together campaign.

The survey put overall support for leaving the UK at 31%, compared with 56% who said that they were opposed. The remainder had no view.

Of those in favour, 16% expressed 'strong support' while 15% said they 'tended' to back independence. Of those opposed to independence, 37% said their view was 'strong'.

The poll of just more than 1000 voters, conducted online in the days after the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement, also showed that fewer than half (46%) of voters who backed the SNP in the 2010 Westminster elections were strongly in favour of the party's flagship policy.

Blair McDougall, the Better Together cam- paign director said: "There are 100 weeks to go and we are not in the least bit complacent but it is clear from every poll that it is Better Together, and not the anti-UK campaign that speaks for Scotland."

A spokesman for Yes Scotland said: "This poll clearly shows that people of different poli- tical colours support independence and as a broad church movement we very much welcome that."