Around two-thirds of Labour members back indyref2 as SNP brand Starmer 'out of touch'

New polling suggests around two thirds of Labour Party members back a second independence referendum and around a third believe Scotland should become independent.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has been branded 'out of touch' by the SNP.

The poll, from YouGov, surveyed 1,073 Labour Party members between March 17 and 24.

It found 31 per cent of members believe Scotland should become independent with a further 28 per cent believing Holyrood should be given more powers.

It also found 60 per cent of members backing a Scottish independence referendum in the next few years, with more than half (56 per cent) saying Labour should support holding such a referendum.

The poll comes as Labour leader Keir Starmer visits Edinburgh in a bid to boost new Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s stalling poll numbers.

A recent Savanta ComRes poll for The Scotsman had the party on 18 per cent on both votes and in third place.

The SNP said the poll showed that Sir Keir was “completely out of touch” with Scotland.

He said: “Keir Starmer is completely out of touch with Scotland and his own party members, who overwhelmingly support Scotland’s right to choose our own future in a post-pandemic independence referendum.

“The Labour Party ruined its reputation in Scotland by backing Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit, supporting austerity cuts, imposing Trident nuclear weapons, and working hand-in-hand with the Tories in Better Together. It risks falling into terminal decline if it continues to side with Boris Johnson to deny democracy.

“As Keir Starmer visits Scotland today he must explain why he is woefully failing to provide any real opposition to Boris Johnson, why he won’t speak out against Tory austerity cuts, why he wants to waste £200billion imposing nuclear weapons, and why he has turned Labour into a hard Brexit party - ruling out a return to the EU and voting for a hard Brexit, which has already cost Scotland’s economy billions of pounds.

“The Labour Party cannot credibly talk about securing the recovery when they have imposed a hard Brexit against Scotland’s will - destroying jobs, damaging businesses and costing our economy a fortune in long-term harm."

Scottish Labour were contacted for comment.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.