More than £11,000 of taxpayers’ money is being spent on secret opinion polls in the run-up to the General Election.

Last month The Sunday Post revealed the UK Government has hired pollsters to conduct surveys in Scotland in the months leading up to the May 7 vote.

It came after the Cabinet Office was criticised for spending more than half a million pounds on polls ahead of the independence referendum but refusing to make the results public.

Now, new documents show the cost of the polling work being carried out in the coming months will be £11,745.

SNP MP Angus Brendan MacNeil said: “The Tories might be out of touch with Scotland but that does not justify them spending over £11,000 of taxpayers’ money.

“This is in addition to the £537,000 worth of private polling paid for by the taxpayer and shared with the No campaign during the referendum.”

Sam Gyimah, parliamentary secretary of the Cabinet Office, said the work will, “research into the level of understanding of the devolution settlement in Scotland to improve to public services, monitor efficiency and inform policy development.”

Taxpayers’ money was used to carry out a series of polls on attitudes towards independence last year.

Coalition ministers refused to publish the polls but The Sunday Post revealed the top level findings of all polling carried out by the UK Government was shared with the pro-Union Better Together campaign.

It was understood UK Government officials stopped short of sharing the full findings with the pro-Union group but the move came under fierce criticism from the Yes camp.

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