Humza Yousaf's support base is crumbling away in Scotland, as the Labour Party has overtaken the SNP for the first time since the 2014 independence referendum.
Fresh polling from YouGov, conducted between March 25 and April 2, put Labour on 33 per cent support, up one point from October.
The SNP was on 31 per cent, down by two points on October.
The Tories lagged behind on 14 per cent support, down six points from October, while the Lib Dems were up two points at seven per cent support.
Humza Yousaf's support base has begun crumbling away in Scotland
PA
Reform was also on seven per cent support, up five points. While the Green Party remained at five points.
The poll surveyed 1,100 adults.
MRP polling conducted by YouGov last month, which spoke to 18,000 people, showed that the SNP could lose 29 seats at the next election - with most of them going to Labour.
Yousaf's part has faced growing controversy in recent weeks over its new hate crime legislation, which came into force last week.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into effect on Monday. It creates a new offence of “stirring up of hatred” for protected characteristics.
Police Scotland received 7,152 complaints under the new hate crime law in the first week of operation, sparking concerns the legislation could overload the police with work.
Fresh polling from YouGov, conducted between March 25 and April 2, put Labour on 33 per cent support, up one point from October
PA
Yousaf said the new legislation "absolutely protects people in their freedom of expression" while guarding "people from a rising tide of hatred that we’ve seen far too often in our society".
The act was supported by MSPs from Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, as well as the SNP.
It also creates a new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour that is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
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Concerns have been raised that the legislation is hard to enforce consistently, and will impinge upon free speech.
JK Rowling said: "Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal".
