IT SEEMS Nicola Sturgeon was correct, a few hours later, when she said in a conference speech that Labour were “unreliable and unelectable”.
The editor-in-chief of pollster YouGov had already said as much. “In the eyes of Scottish voters, Corbyn is still a remote Westminster figure, at the head of a party that has lost its covenant with Scottish voters,” Freddie Sayers said yesterday morning.
His latest poll shows that the SNP, despite weeks of negative headlines, have opened up a 30-point gap over Labour.
Carried out for The Times between last Friday and yesterday, it shows the fall out around Michelle Thomson has made no impact on support for the party. Pro-independence poll-expert and blogger James Kelly argues that it proves quite conclusively that the SNP are not losing support to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party.
In the constituency ballot, the SNP are polling at 51 per cent compared to Labour’s 21per cent. The Tories are on 19 per cent and the Lib Dems on five.
There’s little change on the regional list from last month’s polling, with the SNP on 45 per cent, Labour on 20 per cent, the Tories up one point to 19 per cent. The Scottish Greens are on six per cent and the Lib Dems on five per cent.
According to Weber Shandwick’s Scotland Votes seat calculator, this on polling day would see the SNP take 70 of the 129 Holyrood seats next May. Labour and the Tories would have 25 each, the Greens would be on five and Lib Dems four.
The poll also asked those taking part if they thought Alistair Carmichael and Michelle Thompson should resign their seats. 67 per cent thought Carmichael should go and 59 per cent thought Thompson should step down.
The SNP also polled higher than any of the other parties when it came to trustworthiness. 45 per cent of voters trusted the SNP to tell the truth, compared to 25 per cent who trusted Labour and 21 per cent who trusted the Tories.
Perhaps because of Carmichael, only 17 per cent trusted the Liberal Democrats.
There was cheer for the Tories as it appears that 11 per cent of Labour voters will leave the party to back Ruth Davidson next year. Writing in his blog Kelly says this “lends weight to the theory that if Labour are slipping further, Corbyn could be to blame.”
Kelly writes: “Moderate Unionist voters may be deserting Labour for a more natural home, and left-wing voters are failing to offset that by ‘coming home’ from the SNP. In absolute terms, the number of SNP voters that have switched to Labour since the General Election looks almost identical to the number of Labour voters who have moved in the opposite direction.”
There was no change in support for independence in the poll, Yes are at 48 per cent and No at 52 per cent when the don’t knows are removed.
Sayers said: “The figures reveal the extent of the challenge ahead of him if he hopes to get a message through that will make a difference north of the border. Whatever that message is, it hasn’t been heard yet.”
SNP business convener Derek Mackay said the poll shows that Labour’s woes are far from over.
“Voters will continue to reject this deeply divided party who aren’t even regarded as a credible opposition party, let alone a credible party of government,” said Mackay.
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