An SNP MP has challenged the UK Government to release its private polling on changing attitudes to Scottish independence.
Nationalists have been boosted by a series of surveys in recent weeks which have recorded rising support for a Yes vote at a future IndyRef2.
Glasgow East MP David Linden told the Record he would table a parliamentary question in an attempt to find out what polling Boris Johnson's Government had undertaken on the subject.
Scotland's constitutional future is expected to again be one of the dominant talking points ahead of next year's Holyrood elections, with the SNP on course for another majority according to current polling.
The UK Government has so far responded to rising support for independence by opening a new HQ in Edinburgh and beginning a series of high-profile visits north of the Border from Cabinet members in an effort to increase its visibility.
Boris Johnson holidayed in a remote corner of the Highlands last week while his colleague Michael Gove is said to have sounded out prominent pro-Union politicians about countering Nicola Sturgeon's popularity among Scots.
Linden said: “We’ve now seen five successive opinion polls showing majority support for Scottish independence and I suspect they are not the only polls showing a sharp increase in support for Yes.
“UK Government ministers have been very coy about what private polling is being undertaken on behalf of the Cabinet Office at taxpayers' expense, so I’ve today tabled some written parliamentary questions, asking exactly what polling is being undertaken, how much is being spent on it and whether it will be published for the sake of transparency.
“In reality, Tory ministers know that support for Scottish independence is only going in one direction and I imagine their private polling backs that up, which explains these increasingly erratic day trips and holidays from senior Government Ministers.
“It’s time for the Government to publish the polls”.
A spokeswoman for the UK Government said: “All governments undertake research to better understand how their policies affect people.
"This is not routinely published. It feeds into effective policy-making and service-delivery.”
