LONDON (Reuters) – The opposition Labour Party will win more seats than the Scottish National Party in Scotland in the next general election according to a poll in the Sunday Times, boosting its chances of winning an outright majority across Britain.
According to the Panelbase poll for The Sunday Times, the SNP would win just 21 of Scotland’s seats in the British parliament, losing more than half of their current 45, while Labour would win 26, up from one now.
Support for the SNP, the pro-independence party which has dominated Scottish politics for most of the last two decades, has shrunk this year after former leader Nicola Sturgeon stood down.
In a further blow, she was arrested last week as part of a police inquiry into the SNP’s finances. She was released without charge the same day and denied any wrongdoing.
Winning just 21 British parliamentary seats would represent the SNP’s poorest result for 13 years, the newspaper said.
“Winning 20 in Scotland could be the difference between Labour achieving an outright majority in the Commons and a hung parliament,” The Sunday Times said, referring to the House of Commons, the lower House of Parliament in London.
A general election in Britain is expected next year. Labour has a roughly 16-point lead over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative party in opinion polls.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
