Nicola Sturgeon has been out campaigning across Scotland ahead of next month’s Holyrood elections. The SNP leader hopes to secure a pro-independence majority and strengthen calls for a second referendum. However, in a discussion with voters in Scotland the BBC Today programme found not all Scots are happy to see the SNP placing the pursuit of IndyRef2 above steering the country through the Covid pandemic recovery.
David Laine, a student from Aberdeen told the radio programme on Friday: “Having another referendum to me would reverse a lot of the pledges to rebuild Scotland and for Scotland’s recovery.
“I think a referendum and rebuilding Scotland can’t go together.
“I think they are two sorts of extremes that were one can’t come with the other.
“So since part of my thoughts when I go to the polling station is what party will help Scotland recover from coronavirus I have to rule out the parties that want a second referendum.
“Because a referendum won’t help rebuild Scotland so it does make quite a big difference.”
It comes as the latest Savanta ComRes survey predicts the SNP will gain 64 seats – one short of gaining overall control in the Scottish Parliament.
The poll surveyed 1,007 Scottish adults from April 2 to 7.
The Savanta poll is the first recent poll to suggest the SNP would not win an overall majority with other polls indicating a majority is likely for Ms Sturgeon’s party.
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Ms Sturgeon has insisted that any sort of pro-independence majority in Holyrood would be sufficient to boost calls to secure Indyref2.
She told journalists this week that the UK Government will essentially accept defeat if there is a majority for independence in the May elections.
The Scottish First Minister said: “I strongly suspect, based on some of what I hear that is under discussion in the depths of the Tory party and Whitehall at the moment, that they know an independence referendum is coming.”
Voters in Scotland will head to the polls in less than a month to elect 129 Members of Scottish Parliament and the main parties running in the race being the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens.
