Labour are neck and neck with the Conservatives ahead of the Scottish elections, according to a new opinion poll.

Kezia Dugdale's party is now in danger of being beaten into third place by the Tories, the YouGov survey for The Times newspaper found.

In the constituency vote, the survey put support for Labour at 19%, down slightly on the Tories who were backed by 20% of those polled.

The SNP remains on course for another majority win, with 50% of the headline vote, while the Liberal Democrats were on 6% and a further 5% opted for other parties.

In the regional list vote, where a fierce battle for seats between the opposition parties is expected, Labour and the Tories both polled 20%.

The SNP has 42% of the vote, with the Lib Dems trailing on 5%, the Greens on 6%, and the remaining share going to other parties.

YouGov polled 1,022 people between February 1 and 4.

John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, told The Times the data would translate to 70 seats for the SNP, 26 for Labour, 24 for the Tories, five for the Greens and four for the Liberal Democrats.

Weber Shandwick's Scotland Votes seat predictor suggests Labour and the Tories would each win 25 seats.

At the 2011 elections, the SNP won 69 seats, with Labour taking 37 seats, the Tories on 15, the Lib Dems on five and the Greens on two.

The poll also shows Tory leader Ruth Davidson continues to enjoy positive popularity ratings, with 40% of people stating she is doing well and 36% stating she is doing badly. A further 24% said they did not know.

Ms Dugdale's ratings are negative, with 26% stating she is doing well, against 44% badly and 31% who did not know.

The poll was conducted as Ms Dugdale announced Labour's plans to add 1p onto income tax to help fund education.

Her proposed amendment to Finance Secretary John Swinney's budget was defeated at Holyrood on Wednesday, with the SNP maintaining the same tax rate as the rest of the UK for 2016/17.

Mr Swinney said he will set out further details of the party's longer-term taxation plans in March, if a fiscal deal can be agreed with the UK Government to allow the devolution of greater income tax powers in the Scotland Bill.

At present, the Scottish Government is limited to altering each tax band in the same way while the greater powers will give control over rates and bands from 2017/18.

Asked if they would support or oppose an increase in income tax to improve public services once the government has full control by 2017, 52% of those surveyed said they would support it while 37% said they would oppose it and around 11% did not know.

The poll also found support for increasing council tax to pay for local services, with 54% in agreement, 36% opposed and 10% who did not know. The Scottish Government plans to freeze council tax again in 2016/17.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: "This poll shows that across Scotland, people are responding to Ruth's pledge to hold the SNP to account and ensure they focus on making government work better, not a second referendum."