New poll on Scottish independence puts Yes ahead

However, most (56%) oppose holding Indyref2 this year, with just 34% in support. This is the SNP's preferred timetable.

YouGov polled 1,039 adults aged 16 or over. 

It comes as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is due to set out her "next steps" on independence tomorrow. 

Holyrood voted to endorse calls for a second referendum on Wednesday. 

But Boris Johnson has already refused a request to hand Scotland the necessary powers to re-run 2014. 

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said the latest Holyrood vote changed nothing. 

Chris Curtis, a political research manager at YouGov, said one reason for the latest polling shift is that "Remainers are increasingly moving towards Yes".

In a blog post, he said: "While England and Wales voted to Leave, 62% of Scots voted to Remain, and many of them had voted against Scottish independence just two years earlier.

"Over one in five (21%) of those who voted Remain in 2016 but No in the independence referendum have now shifted over to Yes.

"On the other side, three in ten (30%) of those who voted Leave in the referendum and Yes in 2014, now say they will vote No.

"However, because the former group is more than twice as big as the latter, this represents a net movement towards Yes.

"More important still, those who didn’t vote in at least one of those referendums (including those who were too young to vote) currently break for Yes by 51% to 25%, which further shifts the balance."

The polling showed 46% oppose holding a referendum next year even if the SNP win a majority of seats in the 2021 Holyrood election, compared to 41% in support.

However, 44% of Scots think there should be another referendum in the next five years, with 39% opposed.

Reacting to the poll, the First Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve known ever since the Brexit vote that a lot of people who voted No in 2014 have been changing their minds, or considering changing their minds at least, about independence.

“I think the looming reality of Brexit tomorrow night will be crystallising the thought in a lot of people’s heads that Scotland should be an independent country.

“There’s been a pretty consistent trend since 2014. Very, very few of the many polls taken since 2014 have had support for independence at less than 45 per cent. 

“Most have shown support at 45 per cent or a bit above that, and in the three and a half years since the Brexit vote that trend has solidified.

“The vast majority of polling in recent times has seen the independence question pretty much a dead heat, or close to margin of error territory, as indeed this poll is. 

“It’s pretty evenly split.”

He said the UK Government’s contention that there was no public appetite for a second independence referendum was “a complete fallacy”.

He said: “They’re quite entitled to argue against independence, but you hear this trope thrown around by Tories and others at Holyrood that they claim that there is no appetite or no desire for independence or a referendum.

“It’s simply untrue. You just to look at the polling numbers and the election result.”

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The fact that this poll shift has happened as Scotland is taken out of the European Union is no coincidence.

"People in Scotland can see there is a route back to the European table through independence, and they can see that Green politicians and others across the continent would welcome an independent Scotland taking its place among other smaller progressive countries.

“The Scottish Greens will be marking Brexit day with a rally for our Green Yes campaign, and this opinion poll is a great base to start from. We will be campaigning to convince as many as possible that a road back to the EU is possible and that independence can have a real purpose, helping us build a new, just and sustainable Scotland.”