The SNP are set to win a record number of seats in the next Holyrood elections according to the latest opinion poll.
The Panelbase study for the Sunday Times predicts Nicola Sturgeon is on course to lead her party to a landslide with 70 seats.
Such a result would give the SNP a clear mandate to demand that Tory leader Boris Johnson allow another independence referendum and set up a potential constitutional crisis with the Prime Minister having vowed not to sanction IndyRef2.
The constituency forecasts puts the SNP on a thumping 51 per cent with the Conservatives in second place and unchanged since the last poll in November on 26 per cent.
Support for the Labour party in Scotland has slumped five points to 14 per cent.
The survey has the Lib Dems on six per cent – down two per cent – and the Greens on three per cent – up one per cent.
The regional vote also shows rising support for the SNP with the party up 10 per cent to 48 per cent, the Tories unchanged on 26 per cent, Labour on 13 per cent, and both the Lib Dems and Greens on six per cent.
If the figures were repeated at the election in May 2021 the SNP would get one more seat than they managed in their historic 2011 victory that saw the party form the first ever majority Government at Holyrood.
The poll of 1023 people - which took place between March 24 and 26 - shows a small increase in support for independence with 49 per cent saying they would vote Yes, an increase of two per cent.
The looming threat of Brexit and Sturgeon’s leadership during the coronavirus crisis appears to have helped boost the SNP numbers with the party leader rated as having a net score of +54 for her handling of the pandemic while Johnson was +17 and Donald Trump -55.
