Looking at the latest polling, anyone might assume the SNP were the biggest thorn in Scottish Labour’s side. But that would be a mistake. Anas Sarwar’s party faces two more immediate problems: the widespread unpopularity of the UK Labour Government and the meteoric rise of Reform UK.

Ipsos’ latest Scottish Political Monitor polling, taken between June 12 and 18, shows the SNP leading in both Westminster and Holyrood voting intentions. In an immediate Scottish Parliament election, our poll finds 34% of likely voters would cast their constituency vote for the SNP - an 11-point lead over second-placed Scottish Labour.

What this shows isn’t that the SNP is riding high, but rather that the party is no longer the dominant force it once was. If replicated next May, this would be a much weaker performance than in 2021 - although the SNP would remain the largest party at Holyrood. That the SNP’s vote share has held up since the General Election is largely because Labour and the Conservatives have become more unpopular rather than because of the party’s own actions. That said, even after 18 years in government the SNP appears to be retaining its voters better than its rivals.

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Labour’s support in Scotland has fallen dramatically since their landslide General........

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