NS Forecast Shows SNP Winning Majority As Sturgeon Faces NC Vote

The New Statesman's latest forecast for the Scottish Parliament election on 6 May shows the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) winning 65 seats, exactly the number required for a majority in the 129-member legislature.

• New Scottish parliament forecast: SNP: 65 MSPs (+2), CON: 25 (-6), LAB: 23 (-1), LDEM: 6 (+1), GRN: 10 (+4). Chgs. w/ 2016 result. 65 seats needed for a majority. New Statesman forecast.
• The new forecast comes as SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon faces a vote of no confidence this evening that is set to fall well short of forcing her from office. Following the publication of an independent report yesterday clearing Sturgeon of breaking the ministerial code, the pro-independence Green Party of Scotland said it would not back the pro-Union Conservative motion, ensuring its defeat.
• A parliamentary report issued today by an opposition majority committee found Sturgeon to have misled the inquiry and that the Scottish gov'ts efforts in handling sexual harassment complaints against former FM Alex Salmond were 'seriously flawed'. However, the SNP has dismissed this reports conclusions, arguing that the makeup of the committee made its findings politically biased against Sturgeon.
• Should Sturegon be able to weather the storm and secure, as the NS forecast suggests, a majority in Holyrood (potentially supported again by the Greens), all focus would shift to when, not if, the Scottish gov't sought to force Westminister into calling another Scottish independence referendum.