Support for Scottish independence has increased to 54% – with a Panelbase poll finding an increasing number of Labour voters would now back independence.

The poll found that Labour voter support for independence has increased from 35% to 37%, with 13% of said voters unsure how they would vote in the event of a second independence referendum.  

The new poll, carried out on behalf of Business for Scotland, comes after a Panelbase poll three weeks ago put support for independence at 52%. 

The survey, which asked 1070 Scottish residents over the age of 16 found support for independence was 54% to 46%.   

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This is the fifth Panelbase poll to ask the independence question in 2020 and those polls have now found support for independence to be 52%, 49%, 50%, 52% and 54%. 

54% is the highest level of support registered by a British Polling Council member since the poll on independence in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Brexit vote.

Speaking to our pro-independence sister paper The National, Rob Aberdein, the Business for Scotland chair said: “Future polls will paint a clearer picture, but this may suggest that its leader’s fundamentalist stance against a second referendum is driving voters away from the party and into the arms of the Yes movement.” 

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He added: “In the two weeks since the last poll, we have had Labour hardening its opposition to a second referendum, the Scottish First Minister being seen as a safe pair of hands on the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 response compared with Westminster’s response and the Conservatives in Scotland trying to force the First Minister to open up the economy more quickly than the First Minister believes is safe.

“Sir Billy Connolly, one of Scotland’s most iconic celebrities, threw his weight behind the cause of Scottish independence – insisting the prospect of the country becoming a republic is ‘as good an idea as any I’ve ever heard’. We have also had Loyalist/British nationalist protests in Glasgow resulting in violent clashes with the police.” 

To read the full story visit the site of pro-independence our sister paper The National