THE SCOTTISH National Party enjoyed a poll boost last night, as Mr Tony Blair again dismissed talk of a Labour U turn over devolution. An ongoing survey of a television audience of 500 put SNP support at 29 per cent, up three points from the beginning of March, writes Frank Millar.
The SNP's gain apparently came at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives. Labour was down two points, to 42 per cent of the Scottish vote, while the Tories dropped from 17 to 13 per cent.
The SNP's chief executive, Mr Michael Russell, claimed the Scottish 500 audience confirmed the party's own canvass returns. And he charged: "Tony Blair's arrogant remarks that, under devolution, sovereignty would remain with him as an English MP, and his comparison of a Scottish Parliament with an English parish council, have exposed New Labour's total untrustworthiness on the Constitution."
However Mr Blair told a Scottish radio audience there was no inconsistency in his plans for a tax raising parliament in Edinburgh.
The Scottish Labour Party had backed the manifesto commitment not to raise the basic or top rates of tax for five years, he said. On sovereignty, Mr Blair was unrepentant: "Of course ultimate sovereignty rests with the Westminster parliament. That is simply a statement of fact.
"Devolution is not separatism, it is not federation. It is devolving certain specific powers over the running of public services, and the making of laws regarding them, to the Scottish Parliament."
Mr Blair said the minutiae of issues such as devolution often left people "dancing on the head of a pin". But the most important thing was to recognise that the establishment and survival of a Scottish parliament rested on the support of the Scottish people. Urging people to keep their eye on the "big picture", Mr Blair said only Labour could deliver it.