The National:

LABOUR have launched an attack advert on Douglas Ross claiming that the Scottish Tory leader “can’t get it up”.

In a bizarre “puerile” advert, Scottish Labour took aim at Ross for his poor public satisfaction levels compared to other leaders, following a poll from Ipsos last week.

However, with the party describing Ross as suffering from “electoral dysfunction”, many pointed to the “laddish” nature of the advert.

Others pointed out that it was immature for a “serious” government in waiting, which Labour leader Keir Starmer has been desperately trying to position his party as ahead of the next General Election.

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Many social media users branded it “puerile” and others dubbed it a “pathetic PR piece”.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson told the Daily Record: “Douglas Ross and the Tories are a party suffering from a severe case of electoral dysfunction.”

The advert shows a cut-out of Douglas Ross looking down, with the phrase “Douglas Ross can’t get it up” emblazoned across the image, and a graph showing poll satisfaction ratings for the Tories plummeting since 2017.

In the recent Ipsos poll, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had the only positive rating (+7), while First Minister Humza Yousaf was on -9, and Ross trailed behind on -25.

However, while Labour celebrated their gains in the Ipsos poll, and a YouGov survey the day before which showed them gaining 23 MPs at the next General Election, the party still trails behind the SNP.

But, while Labour did make gains over the Tories, their attack advert bombed online, with many people jumping in to criticise it, including MSPs across the political divide. 

SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart said that Scottish Labour had "sunken to a new low" with their choice of language. 

She said: "This is fuelled by nothing more than toxic masculinity which politicians like Anas Sarwar like to claim they want to tackle.

"If we want to improve our political discourse, get more people engaged and get more women involved then we simply have to do better, and challenge behaviour like this.  

"I hope Anas agrees that gutter politics of this sort is absolutely not acceptable and apologises for his party promoting it.”

Scottish Tory MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said: "I see Scottish Labour are embarrassing themselves again. What puerile nonsense."

Journalist Euan McColm said: “Urgh. What a load of laddish nonsense. Mortifyingly dumb.”

Holyrood magazine editor Mandy Rhodes wrote: “Puerile p**h from Labour and particularly ironic when Douglas Ross is the only leader in the Scottish Parliament man enough to actually say what a man is!”

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Scotsman journalist Susan Dalgety weighed in, adding: “Ok, so the lads in @ScottishLabour have had some fun with smutty puns.

“This ad might amuse my 11-year grandson, but it’s shameful coming from a serious political party. Grow up boys.”

One social media user wrote: “Really ... this party thinks they should form the next Scottish Government?”

Another Twitter user argued that Labour were going to “blow it” if they continue attacking the Tories, whose votes they will likely rely on at the upcoming General Election.

They said: “If Labour want to regain control at Holyrood, they will need disaffected Conservative voters to lend them their votes, not just the people who are fleeing from the SNP.

“This isn't the way to do it.”

Another said simply: "If Labour not going to be grown-up about politics why should grown-up voters bother with them?"

Well, from the party who suggested they would “cremate” the SNP at the next election, The Jouker is not surprised that Labour’s mask has slipped once again.