Gordon Brown has urged the SNP to "come clean" on the facts of independence after a new poll found a majority of Scots want more information before making a decision.
Nearly 60 per cent of people asked in the Our Scottish Future survey said they didn't have enough information at their disposal on the constitutional question.
One thousand Scots were asked by Stack Data Strategy between May 7 and 8 on a number of issues.
Asked about the key issues that will be affected by Scotland’s departure from the United Kingdom such as the English border, Scotland’s security arrangements, tax, currency, EU membership, and UK negotiations, fewer than a third of Scots say they feel confident about knowing what would likely happen.
Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Nicola Sturgeon's party must "open the books" on its case for independence.
He argues the SNP should be prepared to open its case up to public scrutiny through parliamentary hearings.
The poll also asked people their priorities following the election where the SNP were one seat away from achieving an overall majority.
Indyref2 was ranked fifth for Nationalists, below NHS catch-up, reducing COVID, protecting and generating jobs and eliminating poverty.
The survey asked: “Do you believe that campaigners for independence have given enough information about what Scotland would be like if it became independent (eg: on currency, taxation, legal rights, EU membership, the border) for you to make a fully informed choice at a future referendum?"
A total of 58 per cent said no, while 30 per cent said yes. The remaining 12 per cent said they did not know.
Among those strongly in favour of independence, 66 per cent said they had enough facts, but 24 per cent said they did not. But of “middle Scotland” voters, 60% said they did not feel they had enough information.
Commenting on the poll, Gordon Brown said: "Middle Scotland’s support for the SNP and for independence is conditional – and they are now asking the SNP for honesty, for openness and for getting the facts on the table. It is time for the SNP to open the books.
"When even a quarter of committed independence supporters agree we don’t know enough to make an informed choice on independence, surely the onus is on the SNP to come clean?
"I believe that it is time for the SNP to agree to hold public hearings on what independence means for everything from the pound to the pension.”
"Whether they are Yes, No, or undecided, people deserve to know the truth – from maintaining the Union, to reforming and renewing it, to leaving it altogether.”
The poll also asked voters to set out their top three priorities going forward. 'NHS catch up' was the most popular, followed by 'reduce COVID/vaccines', 'protect and generate jobs', 'education catch up' and 'reopen economy'.
'Prepare for a second independence referendum' was eighth on the list. Among middle Scotland, it was bottom, and even among SNP voters, it came in fifth.
SNP MSP George Adam said: “The SNP won last week’s election by a landslide and there is an unprecedented 15-seat cross-party pro-Indy majority at Holyrood.
“The First Minister was absolutely clear throughout the election campaign, as was the SNP manifesto, that her immediate focus was continuing to lead Scotland safely through the pandemic.
“But once the COVID crisis has passed, people in Scotland have the right to choose our own future, and whether to equip our parliament with the powers it needs to drive Scotland’s long-term recovery, not to leave our recovery in the hands of the austerity-driven Tories.
"That means there will be a post-pandemic independence referendum and, as the First Minister has also repeated time and time again, it will be at that point the SNP bring forward a detailed and comprehensive prospectus for independence – as it did in 2014 - that addresses all those questions the people of Scotland will quite rightly want answered.
"Meanwhile, the people of Scotland might also want to know why Gordon Brown continues to campaign to keep Scotland subjected to a disastrous hard-Brexit Tory Government - which this country has emphatically rejected – and deny us the immense opportunities of having full powers to use our human and natural resources to build a better Scotland.”
