The Scottish Tories could be completely wiped out at the election, according to a new poll.

Fieldwork on the Ipsos’ Scottish Political Monitor, run in partnership with STV News, took place last week while the party was dealing with the fallout of Rishi Sunak's decision to leave D-Day events in Normandy early and Douglas Ross's controversial Westminster bid.

Though it was concluded before he announced his intention to resign.

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When asked how they would vote next month, Scots put the SNP and Labour neck-and-neck.

The pollster had both parties on 36%.

Compared to the last Ipsos poll, carried out at the end of January, that is a fall of 3% for John Swinney's party and a jump of 4% for Anas Sarwar's.

The Tories are down one point in a distant third place with 13% of the vote.

The Lib Dems are also down one point at 5%, while Nigel Farage’s Reform is on 4%, the Scottish Green Party is on 3% and Alba is on 1%. 

According to polling expert and Herald columnist Mark McGeoghegan, that would give both the SNP and Labour 27 seats, while the Lib Dems would be on the three and the Tories would be completely wiped out. 

The poll also found that 42% of voters said they could still change their minds.

Of those, 24% said they might break for Labour while 12% said they could go to the SNP.

Nearly a quarter of all voters, 23%, said they would vote for a party to stop another winning, rather than because it is the party they most prefer.

The numbers represent a ten-point increase in likely tactical voting compared with Ipsos’ poll in the run-up to the 2019 general election.

The likelihood of tactical voting is higher among those who intend to vote Labour (34%) and Conservative (27%) than among those who intend to vote SNP (11%).

(Image: PA)

Meanwhile, the survey also found that Kate Forbes is Scotland’s most popular politician.

Tthe Deputy First Minster was the only politician with a positive rating among Scottish voters.

She is on +7, while Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar is on -1 and First Minister John Swinney is on -2.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross is on -29.

However, he is still miles ahead of Rishi Sunak whose approval rating was -64.

Sir Keir Starmer’s is -12.

Ipsos surveyed 1,150 people in Scotland aged 16 and above between June 3 and 9 – before Mr Ross announced he would stand down as Scottish Tory leader.

Asked who would make the most capable prime minister, 53% of respondents said Sir Keir while only 16% said Mr Sunak.

When asked who would be the most capable first minister, 36% said Mr Swinney, 23% said Mr Sarwar and 14% said Mr Ross.

Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos in Scotland, said: “This election campaign in Scotland is about the persuadable, with 42% of likely voters saying they may change their mind by polling day.

“Although it currently looks a very close race between the SNP and Labour, there are signs that Labour may be in a stronger position than the SNP to win further voters over during the campaign.

“Of those who may change their minds, Labour is likely to be the main beneficiary, with 24% of this group saying they may switch to Labour, compared with 12% for the SNP.

“The Conservative vote looks soft, with 55% of those intending to vote Conservative saying they may change their mind – and those voters would be most likely to switch to Labour.

“Given the profile of marginal seats in Scotland, even small changes in vote share (and remember that polls have a margin of error too) can make a big difference to the final result – which means the parties still have a huge amount to play for in the remaining weeks of the campaign.”

On independence, Ipsos found 51% of Scots would vote Yes while 49% said they would vote No.

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SNP campaign director Stewart Hosie welcomed the survey. He said: "This poll shows that on 4th July, every vote for the SNP will be essential to get rid of this Tory government and put Scotland's interests first.

"At the start of this campaign, some polls put the SNP 10 points behind the Labour Party, on course to win seven seats - and this poll shows we're now neck-and-neck thanks to the strong and principled leadership of John Swinney."

 Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said: “Voters know that in key seats across Scotland it’s a straight fight between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP – and these battles will be extremely close.

“Stephen Flynn has said that every SNP MP elected will double down on their independence obsession, instead of focusing on the people’s priorities – fixing Scotland’s ailing public services and creating good jobs.

“The only way to stop this is to defeat the SNP – and that means voting Scottish Conservative in the seats where only we are capable of beating them.”

 Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This latest poll shows that more and more Scots are turning to Scottish Labour to deliver the change we need.

“There are only three weeks until the poll that really matters - polling day.

“On that day, Scots have a choice - risk letting the Tories back in or delivering a Labour government with Scotland at its heart.

“All the Tories have to offer is more chaos and all the SNP have to offer is more division, incompetence and decline.

“Only a vote for Scottish Labour can boot out the Tories, put Scotland at the heart of a U.K. Labour government and deliver the change our country needs.”