LABOUR'S Ken Macintosh seems unnaturally calm for a man on the wrong end of one of the harshest boundary changes of the election.
Redrawing Eastwood, south of Glasgow, has turned his 2007 majority of 891 into a notional Tory lead of almost 3500.
Gone is Labour Barrhead, leaving him to tramp the affluent suburbs of Clarkston, Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Whitecraigs and Eaglesham. His numbers looked so bad, the party initially declined to fund his campaign. It’s no wonder his wife keeps asking him about a plan B.
But the former BBC producer somehow keeps smiling as he searches for SNP and LibDem supporters to vote tactically against the Conservatives.
“It’s actually for the Tories to lose,” he says. “But I have every chance of winning if I can persuade not just Labour voters to vote, but SNP and Liberals to vote for me. There’s only one anti-Tory candidate who can win, and that’s me.”
It sounds plausible – and significantly Labour HQ have turned the funding back on – but SNP voters may calculate the best outcome is a Tory win, as it means one less Labour MSP.
It’s a point not lost on Tory candidate Jackson Carlaw, who says he’s also picking up tactical support from SNP voters to help defeat Macintosh.
Despite his huge advantage, he says he’s not taking anything for granted and looks nervous.
Last year, the Tories felt sure of taking the equivalent Westminster seat only for Labour’s Jim Murphy to romp home after a late scare campaign.
“There was no threat too lurid,” says Mr Carlaw. “But people were prepared to believe it of us. So I’m fighting this as if I’m behind, not in front.”
Mr Carlaw’s strategy is an ultra-local campaign based on opposition to an incinerator at Loganswell and attacking Labour-led East Renfrewshire Council for investing heavily in Barrhead at Eastwood’s expense.
He scents the pork barrel in a new council building, health centre, and college in Barrhead.
The SNP’s Stewart Maxwell isn’t even pretending victory is in his reach.
“I think Labour have virtually no chance,” he said. “If the Tories can’t win this now, they’ll never win it.”
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