More than half of people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum next year, according to a new poll.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced plans for a second vote on the issue on 19 October 2023.

With the UK government refusing to grant consent for such a ballot to be held, Ms Sturgeon is asking UK Supreme Court judges to rule if Holyrood can hold a referendum without the backing of Westminster.

However, when asked whether a referendum should take place next October, 53% of people said it should not, 40% said it should, and the remainder were undecided, a poll for The Scotsman found.

If Supreme Court judges rule the ballot cannot take place, Ms Sturgeon has already declared that the next Westminster election will be a “de facto referendum” on Scotland’s place in the UK.

The Scotsman poll, carried out by Savanta ComRes, found that 44% of those questioned support independence, while 46% are opposed, both down 1% from a survey last month, while 10% were undecided, which was up three percentage points.

When don’t knows were removed, 49% said they would vote Yes, while 51% said they would vote No, which was unchanged.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Education Matters