Humza Yousaf claims SNP still enjoying 'incredible support' in the polls

The First Minister was bullish in the face of falling poll ratings for his party.

Humza Yousaf said he rejected the suggestion his party was “drowning” in the polls after a new survey showed Labour ahead of the SNP for the first time in years.

The poll, from Redfield and Wilton, saw Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour party ahead of the SNP in Holyrood’s regional list vote – leading 27 per cent to 25 per cent.

The poll also showed the Tories in third place on the list at 19 per cent, the Greens on 13 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 10 per cent, while Alba are on 2 per cent.

First Minister Humza Yousaf during First Minister's Questions (FMQs) in the main chamber of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

In response to probing questions from Mr Sarwar on the state of the criminal justice system in Scotland and amid accusations the Scottish public had lost faith in the SNP leader, Mr Yousaf said his party still enjoyed “incredible support”.

He said: “The SNP has undoubtedly had some of the most difficult and challenging weeks, we still enjoy incredibly popular support and Anas Sarwar is still, of course, in second place.

"That betrays the lack of ambition that Anas Sarwar ... he’s happy being in second place, that’s the ambition he’s got for the Labour party, and that’s why the people of Scotland haven’t trusted them in the last 16 years in government.”

The First Minister later was asked whether he felt like his party was “drowning” due to the plummeting poll numbers.

He said: “Definitely not. Wall-to-wall negative coverage of the SNP for many, many weeks and we’re still leading on many areas of popular support.

"Westminster election polling, for example, Holyrood constituency polling, my own rating in relation to being First Minister ahead of Anas Sarwar, for example.

"And that’s after weeks of wall-to-wall negative coverage, so I’m very confident in our prospectus and building our support up.”

The SNP held on to their lead on the constituency vote, but have dropped two points to 36 per cent. Labour is up four points at 32 per cent while the Tories remain static on 18 per cent.

Support for independence dropped in the past month, with 52 per cent of voters now saying they would vote No, compared to 42 per cent who will back Yes, with 6 per cent undecided.

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