JUST a quarter of people in Scotland trust the UK Government to work in the best interests of the country, according to the latest findings in the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey.

The survey of 1200 people last year, also showed that 65 per cent of people in Scotland trusted the Scottish Government, though this dropped from 73 per cent in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, when those figures are studied closer, 84 per cent of SNP supporters give their support to Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers. What may be surprising is that 55 per cent of non-SNP supporters also gave credit to the Scottish Government for working in the country’s best interests.

For the first year since the survey started in 1999, more people thought the Scottish Government has more influence over the way Scotland is run than the UK Government, though just by 42 to 41 per cent.

There was also huge support for the Scottish Government to have most influence over the way Scotland is run, with 75 per cent saying it should be the administration in Edinburgh who are in control, compared to 14 per cent who want the UK Government to have the most influence.

Just over 28 per cent said helping the economy to grow faster should be the Scottish Government’s highest priority. More than half of all respondents thought the economy had weakened in the past year, compared with 34 per cent who thought that in 2015.

Of those who felt that the economy had weakened, 35 per cent attributed this to UK Government policy, while 18 per cent put the blame at the feet of the Scottish Government. Another 37 per cent said it was to do with “some other reason”.

The majority of respondents, 60 per cent, were satisfied with the way the NHS was being run in 2016, similar to 2013 and 2015. More than a third, 37 per cent, thought that standards in the health service had fallen. Of those who thought standards had fallen, 40 per cent attributed this to UK Government policy, 25 per cent attributed this to Scottish Government policy.

Just under a third of people, 32 per cent, trusted their local council to make fair decisions in 2016.

Interestingly, the number of people who think the Scottish Government is good at listening to concerns before taking decisions is at 54 per cent, down one point on last year, but up from 32 per cent in 2004.

And in a statistic that the SNP will no doubt be noting ahead of Tuesday’s vote to request a Section 30 order to allow a second independence referendum, just 20 per cent of people think the UK Government is any good at listening.

Commenting on the statistics, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution Derek Mackay said: “It’s clear that the people of Scotland trust the Scottish Government to listen to their views, and act fairly and in their best interests. Our commitment to being the most open, transparent and accessible government ever is reflected in the survey’s responses, showing that our approach to travelling cabinets, wide-ranging online engagement and public meetings is giving people the chance to tell us what matters to them.”

Scottish Tory MSP Annie Wells said: “This study shows that while people care about a range of issues, they realise the success of the economy underpins almost everything.

“The SNP likes to pretend it is serious about reducing inequality. But by obsessing about another independence referendum instead of boosting growth and public finances, it is making a mistake.

“People are increasingly of that view and the SNP ought to listen to the concerning results which have emerged from this study.”