SUPPORT for Scottish independence has risen to 48%, according to a new poll.

The survey, carried out by Survation for strategic advisory firm True North, also found that Alex Salmond’s Alba party won the backing of 3% of voters.

When asked how they would vote in the next General Election, the SNP was on 38 per cent, two points lower compared with the firm’s last poll in early April.

Scottish Labour was down one point at 31%, while the Tories were up one at 18% and the Lib Dems were also up two points to 9%.

On the Holyrood constituency vote, the SNP went down by three to 39%, while Labour remained at 30%. The Tories were up one at 19%, while the Lib Dems rose by two points to 9%.

The polling also showed a drop in SNP support on the list vote.

SNP support on the list vote went down three points to 32%, while Labour dropped one taking them to 26%. The Tories jumped one point to 19%, with the Greens also rising to a point to 10%. The Lib Dems remained at 7%.

The Alba Party won the backing of 3% of voters, with this being the first time they have won enough support to be picked up on a Survation poll.

The polling also showed support for independence rise by one point compared to the last poll, as 52% of Scots said they would vote No, while 48% would back Yes.

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First Minister and SNP leader Humza Yousaf (above), when questioned about the poll, said: “We’ve had some of the most difficult six weeks of the party’s modern history. We’ve had almost wall-to-wall negative and difficult coverage. 

“On the back of that, the poll I’m looking at puts the SNP still ahead, we will enjoy the most popular support when it comes to Westminster voting intention and Holyrood voting intention. 

“Despite all that negative attention, we are still leading and are the most trusted by the people of Scotland. We do not take that trust for granted.”

The Alba Party welcomed the findings and said it pointed to a political breakthrough for the party. 

Alba Party chair Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh said: “This is the third opinion survey in a month which shows Alba on course to win seats in the Scottish Parliament and it is the first time that the party has registered in a Survation poll.

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“The survey places us at 3 percent across the country but at a breakthrough 6 per cent in the Yes city of Glasgow where independence support is now measured at almost 60 per cent.

“That is a great boost in the wake of the mighty AUOB rally at Glasgow Green last Saturday.

“The Alba Party move into our conference in Inverness on Saturday with a real spring in our step. We are the party with the plan to get the independence cause moving forward, and back once more on the front foot.

“The Survation poll shows yet again that while the SNP may be in trouble, support for independence is strong and rising.

"Alba Party calls for the independence movement to take leadership of the campaign, independent from any political party, and for the independence parties to unite under one banner at next year’s Westminster elections.”