A NEW poll has put the SNP on course to win the next Holyrood election, but predicted a parliament with no majority for independence.

The YouGov poll indicated losses for the SNP and Greens, and Labour returning as the official opposition as the Conservatives drop back into third place.

The SNP said the results, published on the eve of the party's three-day autumn conference, showed support for the SNP higher than at the same point after previous Holyrood elections.

READ MORE: MPs and MSPs set to clash on military recruitment age at SNP conference

Based on the voting intentions of 1135 Scottish adults questioned between October 2 and October 5, researchers predicted the SNP would secure 57 seats in a Holyrood election, down six from their 2016 figure.

The SNP's independence allies the Greens would drop from from six to four, which, in that scenario, would mean no majority at Holyrood supporting independence.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pushed back plans for a second Scottish independence referendum after her party lost 21 seats at Westminster in June's snap election but has said she remains committed to giving Scotland a choice on its future at the end of the Brexit process.

The poll suggested Labour would gain eight seats to reach 32 and move into second place, ousting the Tories who would remain unchanged on 31, while the LibDems would also remain static on five.

SNP Business Convener Derek Mackay said: "After 10 years into government, it's a remarkable vote of confidence that the SNP outperforms itself in mid-term polling.

"And with the Tories falling back into third place, it's pretty clear the Davidson bubble has well and truly burst.

"With Theresa May making a complete mess of negotiations, anti-Brexit sentiment in Scotland is getting even stronger, in face of the huge threat to jobs and living standards posed by the Tories, who should see sense and commit to protecting our place in the single market."

Nearly three quarters of Scots polled (72 per cent) are pessimistic about how the Brexit negotations are going while 16 per cent are optimistic and 12 per cent said they don't know.

Around one in six of those surveyed (59 per cent) said they thought Britain was wrong to leave the EU, up two percentage points from April, while 30 per cent said they thought it was the right decision and 11 per cent said they don't know, both of which had fallen one percentage point since April.

More than half of respondents (57 per cent) said they were pessimistic about Britain's future after leaving the EU, while 31 per cent were optimistic and 12 per cent replied they don't know.

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said that the poll showed "appetite for separation across Scotland" on the decline.

He added: "It also shows people who may have trusted the SNP even if they weren't pro-independence are now abandoning the party.

"That is the cost of running a government which has obsessed with a single issue for its whole tenure, tossing everything else of importance to the side."