Support for the SNP is "well below" the 50 per cent benchmark that Nicola Sturgeon has suggested could trigger independence negotiations at the next general election, a poll has found.
A survey published today by Survation found 43 per cent of voters in Scotland would back the Nationalists if a Westminster ballot was held tomorrow, a drop of three points from August.
The poll, commissioned by True North, puts support for Labour on 29 per cent, an increase of three, while the Conservatives are unchanged on 18 per cent.
The First Minister has pledged to turn the next general election into a "de facto" referendum on independence following her government's defeat at the Supreme Court last year.
Final details of how such a plan would work are set to be hammered out at a special SNP conference in Edinburgh in March.
Professor John Curtice, the country's leading polling expert, warned the party still needed "to persuade more people of the case for independence" if it was to reach the 50 per cent support mark.
The academic said: "The poll suggests that, at 43 per cent, support for the SNP would be well below the 50 per cent mark that Nicola Sturgeon would like to surpass at the next general election – though it also suggests that, at present, fewer than half would vote for pro-independence parties in a Holyrood ballot too.
"However, there is no evidence in the poll that fighting the next election as a ‘de facto’ referendum would reduce the level of SNP support.
"Rather, slightly more voters (45 per cent) say that they would vote for the SNP in that circumstance. In truth, if the SNP are going to win over 50 per cent of the vote in either kind of election, the party will need first to persuade more people of the case for independence."
The polling expert added: "Scotland enters 2023 deeply pessimistic about the prospects for the country’s economy. In truth, voters are far from convinced that either the Scottish or the UK government have the right policies to turn things around, though they are particularly sceptical about the policies emanating from Westminster.
"Not least of the reasons is that around seven in ten Scots (71 per cent) think that the cost of living crisis is going to get worse and they are far from convinced that that the windfall tax on energy companies has been effective in reducing their bills."
The poll also found the SNP remains out in front when it comes to Holyrood constituency voting intentions, with 46 per cent of Scots backing the party.
Labour is on 27 per cent, the Conservatives 17 per cent and Lib Dems eight per cent.
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