LABOUR is facing a rout in Scotland on December 12 after a new poll suggested it was set to lose all but one of its seven Scottish seats.
James Cleverley, the Conservative Chairman, claimed Jeremy Corbyn had “abandoned Scotland” and that the only chance he now had of achieving power was by “cutting a deal with Nicola Sturgeon”.
The Panelbase snapshot pointed to Ian Murray, Scottish Labour’s candidate in Edinburgh South, surviving as the party’s only representative being returned to the House of Commons; which would replicate the position following the SNP landslide of 2015. His majority two years ago was 15,514.
READ MORE: First Scottish election poll predicts electoral wipeout for Labour in Scotland
The poll came as Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, admitted that her party was being “squeezed” following the decision by Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party to give the Conservatives a free run in Tory-held seats.
She told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “As things stand, Boris Johnson is on course to get a majority and the Liberal Democrats are the best party to stop it.”
Stressing she was “not conceding yet,” Ms Swinson added: “There are two and a half weeks to go in this campaign and I am working very hard to change that situation.”
As two other weekend polls gave the Tories healthy leads of 12 points and 19 points, the first seat projection analysis was undertaken by Datapraxis, which suggested Boris Johnson’s party would pick up an extra 57 seats, taking it to 355 and giving the Prime Minister a comfortable Commons majority of 48.
Labour, by contrast, would lose 30 seats, going down to 213 and the Lib Dems would lose six dropping to 14. However, the analysis pointed to the SNP gaining 14 seats raising its number to 49, which would place it as the clear third party at Westminster.
The Panelbase poll for The Sunday Times surveyed more than 1,000 people in Scotland and found support for Labour faced falling from 27 per cent to just 20.
According to analysis from eminent polling expert Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, the SNP is also on course for another electoral win in Scotland, seeing its seat count rise from 35 to 41 after December 12 if there were a uniform swing across Scotland with support rising from 37 points to 40.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon draws a red line on Trident as SNP set out demands to Labour
The poll suggested the Nationalists could lose North East Fife, the seat with the smallest majority in the UK; the SNP’s Stephen Gethins secured just two more votes than his Liberal Democrat rival in 2017. Nicola Sturgeon sought to bolster his chances of retaining the seat during a campaign visit by the party leader there on Saturday.
The snapshot has the seat being won by the Lib Dems, which would take their Scottish total to five, while the party's overall support would rise from seven points to 11.
The Conservatives are expected to lose just one seat in Scotland with Stirling predicted to move from Stephen Kerr to SNP MEP Alyn Smith. The poll also pointed to the Tories’ support falling one percentage point to 28. Given earlier predictions, retaining 12 seats would be regarded as a very good result for the Scottish Conservatives.
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP's deputy Westminster leader, said: "Only the SNP can beat the Tories in Scotland. While we take nothing for granted, the SNP are in a strong position and we're well and truly the party with the momentum.”
Stephen Kerr, the Tory trying to retain Stirling, which he won in 2015 with a majority of just 148, said the Conservatives also welcomed the poll, saying it was only his party that could "stop Nicola Sturgeon and make her listen". He added the poll showed Labour was "going nowhere in Scotland and now risks being completely wiped out”.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dems’ campaign chief, said: "This poll shows the Lib Dems are a growing force in Scotland. Everyone who is pro-EU and pro-UK should vote for us on December 12."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel