A NEW poll of Holyrood voting intentions shows the SNP have extended their lead as the most popular party in Scotland and combined support for them and the Greens hit 55%.

The Ipsos MORI poll showed the SNP's lead on the constituency vote reached 52%, a rise of two points on the agency's last poll carried out before the May election and a rise of four points on the result of that election.

The poll also saw support for Scottish independence rise to its highest point in a year with Yes now at 55%.

There was also an increase in support for the SNP on the regional list with the part now recording support 43% of voters polled, an increase of four points on the pre-election poll and three points on the election result.

It also saw a surge in support for the Scottish Greens who recorded 12% of support from voters, an increase of four points from the election result and putting them just three per cent behind Scottish Labour.

Combined support for the SNP and Greens on both the list and constituency vote hit 55%.

The two parties are currently in a co-operation deal at Holyrood which has seen the Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater become government ministers

The National:

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Unionist parties did not fare so well in the poll on the regional list with Labour recording just 15 per cent of support, three points down the Scottish Tories saw their list support fall by three points to 20%.

Unionist parties did not fare so well in the poll on the regional list with Labour recording just 15 per cent of support, three points down and the Scottish Tories saw their list support fall by three points to 20%.

The LibDems were down two points to six per cent, which would actually be a one per cent increase in support from the election result.

There was further dismay for Labour in the constituency vote, dropping five points to 17%. Scottish Labour returned just two constituency MSPs at the May election.

Support for the Tories and LibDems both dropped by one point to 19 and five per cent respectively.

Alba saw support on the regional list drop to one per cent, according to analysis from Ballot Box Scotland.

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Projecting potential seat changes versus the 2021 result, Ballot Box Scotland said that the SNP would gain four seats to lead with a 68 seat majority while the Scottish Greens could increase their MSPs to a record 14, a gain of six.

The Scottish Conservatives would lose seven seats to be left with 24 MSPs, Labour would lose four to have 18 MSPs and the LibDems are expected to increase their representation to six MSPs.

SNP MP Pete Wishart responded to the results saying it was "simply staggering", adding that the poll that saw support for Scottish independence hit 55% "just gets better and better".

However, the party's longest-serving MP had a message for Alba which saw support drop in the poll.

He added: "And I’ll say it again to all my friends in Alba. You won’t win anything if all the public see is this absurd hatred of the SNP. Surely going backwards from almost nothing tells you everything you need to know about that."

The Ipsos MORI poll was carried out between November 22 and 29 with interviews of 1107 adults over the age of 16 carried out over the phone.

It also found that Boris Johnson's approval rating in Scotland fell to its lowest ever level for a Conservative prime minister.

Some 80% of Scots recorded that they were "dissatisfied" with Johnson's performance and just 16% said they were "satisfied" with 4% recording that they "don't know".