Labour is heading towards a total wipeout in Scotland
With just one week to go until the General Election, two new polls are predicting seismic changes for the political parties and their leaders.
The SNP is now set to take every seat in Scotland on 7 May, according to the latest poll conducted by Ipsos-MORI for the Scottish news service STV News.
In a blow to Ed Miliband and the Labour party, the Ipsos-MORI survey showed 54 per cent of Scots prepared to back Nicola Sturgeon’s party at the polls. The widespread support would result in the SNP sweeping all 59 Scottish seats, according to the Electoral Calculus prediction website.
Commenting on the poll, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said: “This is another bad poll for the Scottish Labour party, it’s another good poll of course for the SNP, and it’s another fantastic poll for David Cameron.”
“David Cameron can’t beat the Labour party here in Scotland, so someone else has to do it for him,” Murphy added.
Meanwhile, a new poll from Tory peer Lord Ashcroft showed both Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Ukip leader Nigel Farage vulnerable to losing their constituency contests.
Ashcroft’s latest marginal snapshots found Clegg trailing his Labour opponent, Oliver Coppard, by just one percentage point in Sheffield Hallam. Conservative candidate Laura Sandys has a two-point lead ahead of Farage in Thanet South, according to Ashcroft.
The Tory peer said both races were well within the margin of error, and could go either way, but added that in South Thanet the figures reflected possible tactical voting, with Labour supporters intending to vote Conservative in order to block Farage. In Sheffield Hallam, he found 30 per cent of 2010 Liberal Democrat voters intending to back Labour and a near-identical share of 2010 Tory voters planning to vote Lib Dem.
A loss for either Clegg or Farage would raise questions about the future leadership of their respective parties, as well as the shape of possible coalition negotiations.