THE SNP have opened up a 14 point lead over the Tories, according to the latest YouGov poll.

That margin, if replicated at the 2021 Holyrood election, would give them a fourth term in government.

The SNP share of the vote for the Scottish parliament is at 41% for the constituency vote, up three points since a YouGov poll in January.

The Westminster SNP vote is up even more, by four points. The party’s 40% would give the SNP 43 of Scotland’s 59 seats in the Commons, eight more than it has now.

The Tories were up four points at 27%, Labour were down five points at 23, while the Lib Dems were on 7% and the Greens on 2%.

However, the party will be wary of a slump in the First Minister’s approval ratings.

Nicola Sturgeon has gone from a 56-point positive approval in 2015 to a -2 rating.

However, Labour’s Richard Leonard will look on the SNP leader’s negative rating with envy.

Labour’s share of the Westminster vote is down five points to 23 per cent from the last poll in January. If this was carried through to the next Westminster election, Labour would lose all but one of the seven seats it won in 2017.

Jeremy Corbyn’s approval ratings also sunk to -30, a 27-point fall.

A Tory spokesman said the first minister’s approval ratings showed she was “paying a heavy price for trying to impose a second independence referendum on Scotland”

The SNP Deputy First Minister John Swinney said it was “an extraordinary endorsement” of his party’s record in government.

He added: “But it also shows that we’re winning the argument over Scotland’s future – how best we keep driving our country forward, delivering the best public services anywhere in the UK and building a fairer country.

“Our vision to create a successful economy and flourishing, inclusive society could not be further at odds with despair and chaos of Brexit from the Tories.“