Nicola Sturgeon tops politician trust rating poll

Nicola Sturgeon is expected to take over from Alex Salmond as First Minister of Scotland. Picture: John Devlin

The Panelbase study for the SNP found 54 per cent of people believe Ms Sturgeon - who is almost certain to succeed Alex Salmond as First Minister next month - would stand up for the country’s interests compared to 24 per cent for the Prime Minister.

A third (33 per cent) of those surveyed said they did not trust Ms Sturgeon to represent Scottish interests, giving her an overall trust rating of +21 - higher than the ratings for all of the Scottish party and Westminster leaders.

Mr Salmond is the only other leader to have a positive trust rating, with the outgoing First Minister achieving a net score of +18.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont was given a net rating of -5 by the research while Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson had a net score of -20 and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie scored -28.

The three Westminster leaders had lower ratings, with Nick Clegg being scored at -58 in the research.

Almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of Scots do not trust him to stand up for Scotland’s interests, compared to the 13 per cent who think he would.

Mr Cameron’s net trust rating was -41 while Labour leader Ed Miliband fared slightly better with a rating of -38.

SNP business convener Derek Mackay said: “The poll shows strong trust ratings for Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon - with the leaders of the No campaign parties at Holyrood and Westminster all negative.

“These are remarkable figures for the leaders of a government after over seven years in office.

“The Westminster parties show every sign of having to be dragged kicking and screaming to deliver on their vow of ‘extensive new powers’ for Scotland - which is no doubt a major factor in why their leaders are all so deeply distrusted.”