A_* aily Express poll of public opinion taken in Scotlnnd between February 12 and 15 puts the Scottish Netionalists ahead of both the Tories and Labour, In answer to the question: "In an early General Election, for which party would you vote?", 20% said Labour; 30%, Tory; 4.5% Liberal 32,1% Scottish Nationalist; and there were 13.4% "don't knows", To the question: "Irrespective of party are you in favour of Home Rule for Scotland?", 5258% siad "Yes"; 34.2%, "No"; and there were 13.0% "Don't knows," 43.6% favoured a totally independent Scottish Parliament with full control over Scottish money and a separate foreign policy and Armed Forces. The rest, 56.4%, favoured a Scottish Parliament which left fortdg policy issues, etc. to Westminster, Exactly half of those questioned thought that the Secretary of State for Scotland, Mr, William Ross, was not doing a good job, while only 29.5 thought he was, There was an even bigger margin on the question of whether people were satisfied with the Labour Government's policies for Scotland: no less than 79.5% were ‘iissatisfied, However, only 33.3% thought the Tories would do better, and more than half (51.7%) thought they wouldn't,
These figures are very elarming for Labour, Nearly every one of Labour's 44, Scottish seats would be lost to the Nationalists if holf the swing indicated by these figures took plece at a general election, Just now this could still be a temporery phenomeneg,perhaps being reversed as the workers saw the prospect of another Tory regime. However, if the present policies continue much of the loss to the Nationalists could become permanent, Under these circumstances the prospects of another Labour Government would be very dim (especially as the same kind of thing could happen in Wales), The right wing is constantly accusing the left of stabbing the Labour Party in the back, These figures show that Mr, Wilson and his rignt wing supporters are on the point of permanently destroyine one of the mainstays of any future Labour Government. Who, then, is being disloyal?
‘ from a special... correspondent