LONDON (Reuters) - Proposals for Scottish independence enjoy stronger support in the rest of Britain than they do in Scotland itself, a poll published on Thursday showed.

Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond (L) shakes hands with Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson during the Oath and Affirmation ceremony in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland May 11, 2011. REUTERS/David Moir

The pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) won a majority in the devolved Scottish parliament for the first time in an election last week and has pledged to hold a referendum in Scotland within the next five years on breaking away.

Only 29 percent of Scottish adults back independence, according to a YouGov poll published in the Sun newspaper. That compared with 41 percent of adults in England and Wales who said they believed Scotland should be independent.

That figure reflects a view in parts of Britain that Scotland is gaining financially from the current set-up which gives its devolved parliament power over issues like health and education, funded by a 30 billion pound grant from British government coffers.

The SNP says that view does not take account of North Sea oil revenues, which flow to the Treasury in London.

SNP leader Alex Salmond, seen as one of Britain’s canniest politicians, plans to hold off on an independence referendum until late in his five-year term as he seeks to translate the SNP surge into stronger support for breaking away from London.

Last week’s SNP triumph is seen as less a demand for secession than a vote of confidence in Salmond’s management of a minority SNP government during the previous parliament.

Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party which won only 15 seats in the 129-member Scottish parliament, has vowed to defend British unity with “every single fibre that I have”.

“I want us to make an uplifting and optimistic case of why we are better off together,” Cameron said this week.

Scotland and England were joined by an act of union in 1707. A devolved Scottish parliament, with limited powers, was restored in 1999 after a referendum.

The YouGov poll questioned 1,175 Scots and 2,159 English and Welsh adults this week. (Editing by Ralph Boulton)