Theresa May’s plan to leave the European Union is overwhelmingly opposed by Scots who are revealing growing unhappiness and a lack of confidence in the exit negotiations.
The Prime Minister's political vulnerability was exposed by the survey which showed that one in ten Scots thought she was handing the Brexit negotiations well. Across the UK it was 16 per cent.
And the YouGov poll found that Scots felt Boris Johnston, who quit as her foreign minister two weeks ago, would do a slightly better job than her of negotiating with the EU. Some 13 per cent of Scots thought he would do it well, while it rose to 34 per cent across Britain.
There have been differences within the Conservative Party over what shape Brexit should take - although at the prime minister's country retreat at Chequers earlier this month, the cabinet reached a "collective" agreement on proposals for the future relationship between the EU and UK.
The plans, which include keeping a close trading relationship with the EU on goods thrust her government into crisis and there is speculation she could face a leadership challenge after two of her most senior ministers, including Mr Johnson, resigned in protest.
The new poll uncovered growing discontent with the process, with just six per cent of Scots (UK 9%) saying they would support the Prime Minister's Chequers plan in a new referendum.
More than half of Scots (51%) thought that Ms May's Brexit Chequers proposal would not be good for Britain, compared to 43% across the UK.
And more than than half of Scots (52%) did not think the government would be able to agree a Brexit deal and 49% felt it would probably not be possible to get a deal approved by Parliament.
Jeremy Hunt has warned that without a "change in approach from the EU negotiators", there is now a "very real risk of a Brexit no deal by accident".
The foreign secretary said "many" in the EU believed they just had to "wait long enough and Britain will blink" but "that's not going to happen".
And Germany's foreign minister says it wants a deal "not a disorderly Brexit".
Heiko Maas, who held talks with Mr Hunt in Berlin, said: "We know that everyone has to make mutual concessions to get this deal."
The YouGov poll revealed while the prime minister has ruled out a new EU referendum, the survey shows that Scots have become more adamant Brexit is not a good deal. Excluding non-voters Remain beat Leave by 73 per cent to 27 per cent.
The gap is narrower across the UK at 53 per cent to 47 per cent. And when asked which party Scots would trust the most to negotiate Britain's exit only one in three chose a UK political party with the Conservatives (12%) narrowly beating Labour (11%).
The survey also confirrmed a growing unhappiness with political parties with some 45 per cent of Scots (UK: 42%) saying none of the political parties in Britain reflect their views.
And nearly one in four (23 per cent) of Scots would vote for a new party on the right that was committed to Brexit, compared to 38 per cent across the UK. While 18% in Scotland are prepared to support an explicitly far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party, with the proportion rising to 24% across the UK.
Ruth Davidson is the favoured politician in Scotland to become the next leader and Prime Minister if Theresa May was to step down - even though as an MSP she cannot move into 10 Downing Street. Some 22% overwhelmingly favoured her against other potential Tory front runners, while she is only headed by Boris Johnston (15%) and Jacob Rees-Mogg (12%) in a UK-wide sample.
But the poll also found that 65 per cent of Scots opted for "none of these" or "don't know".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel