By Rachelle Money

A new poll suggests nearly two thirds of Scots want a referendum on independence, despite growing support for keeping the union.

The YouGov poll revealed 65% of the 1028 Scots surveyed said they would want the constitutional question to be settled at the ballot box within the parliament's lifetime. But support for independence has fallen 6% since the last poll in January 2006.

Only 32% of those polled said that the performance of the SNP government had made them more likely to vote for independence. However, the Nationalists are holding on to 40% of the constituency vote and 33% of the regional vote, against Labour's 32% and 30% respectively. The poll claims that if a Scottish election was held now the SNP would increase its seats by two and Labour would lose two seats.

Nicola Sturgeon, deputy SNP leader, said she was "delighted" with the figures. "The strong SNP lead shows that the honeymoon continues nearly a year into government, on the back of solid policy delivery.

"The SNP could well hold the balance of power at Westminster after the general election, which would mean that the areas where the UK government is currently saying No to Scotland would quickly change to Yes."

Sturgeon went on to say that support for a referendum by 2011 was an "enormous boost for the SNP's policy".

She added: "The other parties are appealing to barely a fifth of the people, and are deeply split on the issue - they will find it impossible to justify refusing to support the right of the people to decide Scotland's future in a democratic referendum."

But political commentator Professor James Mitchell, from Strathclyde University, called the poll "meaningless."

"Polls come and go on the independence option, so I don't take them too seriously. It's meaningless asking people this question when there's no referendum. This doesn't serve to help serious political analysis, at best this poll is a bit of fun."

Mitchell said it was no surprise that people wanted a referendum because "people liked to be asked on any issue".

He said: "Polls are far too unsubtle to get any sense of what's really going on."

A spokesman for the Conservatives said: "Independence is a minority aspiration from one minority party."

Labour's Jackie Baillie said: "Yet again, we have a poll that shows two thirds of respondents rejecting independence.

"The SNP should take note - the vast majority of Scots have consistently made their view on independence clear.