Labour would be forgiven for reaching for the paracetamol this morning.
Labour would be forgiven for reaching for the paracetamol this morning
The Labour Party is facing a further headache following new polling that has revealed that the SNP are now ahead of the party in voting intentions for both Holyrood and Westminster.
According to new data collected by Survation and commissioned by the SNP, asked how they would vote in the constituency vote for the Scottish Parliament, when the undecided are taken out, the SNP now lead Labour by 15 per cent, with the nationalists on 42 per cent (down 3 per cent on the 2011 election results) whilst Labour are on 27 per cent (down 5 per cent).
On the regional list vote, again, the SNP lead Labour with the Scots Nats on 37 per cent (-7 per cent), and Labour on 27 per cent (+1 per cent).
Labour will however be most concerned about the figures on voting intentions for Westminster where the SNP now lead Labour on 34 per cent (+14 per cent from 2010) whilst Labour are on 32 per cent (-10 per cent). This represents a 12 per cent swing from the SNP to Labour which George Eaton in the New Statesman has argued would be “deadly” for Ed Miliband if it were to be reflected in the election next year.
Interestingly, on Westminster voting intentions, the Conservatives north of the border, according to the poll, now stand on 18 per cent, up 1 per cent from 2010, a reflection of the good campaign that Ruth Davidson is widely believed to have had during the independence referendum as leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
It could be that this is a rogue poll, but none the less, a combination of the SNP’s membership trebling since the independence referendum and the boost the party will undoubtedly get with Nicola Sturgeon taking the leadership in November now makes it look highly likely that the nationalists will successfully take some seats from Labour next May on the mantra of holding the UK parties ‘feet to the fire’ when it comes to further powers being devolved to Holyrood.
Given Labour’s continued reliance on its rump of Scottish Labour MPs, such news will have many at Labour HQ worried about the rapid erosion in its once heartland seats.
This is compounded by a similar pattern emerging in Wales where Roger Scully, Professor of Political Science in the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, has noted that Welsh Labour has seen a considerable decline in support over the past 18-24 months. As he has explained:
“In the four polls conducted in 2012, Labour’s general election vote share was always at or above 50 per cent. Both the last two have had it below 40 per cent.”
The polling comes following what was widely believed to have been a lacklustre performance from Ed Miliband in his speech to the party conference last week with the icing on the difficult to swallow cake being today’s YouGov poll putting the Conservatives ahead of Labour on UK wide voting intentions.
And for information, YouGov have also revealed that more people would want to go for a drink with Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Theresa May than Ed Miliband.
Labour would be forgiven for wanting to grab for the paracetamol this morning.
81 Responses to “Labour’s headaches get worse”
InbredBlockhead
But Bankers run the European Court you love so much.
Peter Thomson
The mess at Mid Staff’s started back in the mid 1990’s when the Trust’s inability to retain staff at all levels was highlighted by a report into a number of ‘near misses’ and the death of a young cancer patient given the wrong chemo by the wrong route at 10X the safe dose. The problems of accountability in Mid Staffs and its poor ability to manage its staff and budget and its lax patient care procedures continued to carry on through out the rest of the 1990’s and up until today.
NHS England’s ability to deliver front line care was damaged by the ‘marketisation’ put in place by the Conservatives from 1982 onwards which saw optical services and then dental services largely squeezed out of the NHS across England. It is currently estimated the cost of running these internal markets, introduced by the Conservatives and retained by Labour, sucks 14% out of the average Trust or Health Authority budget in England for no patient benefit. Throw in the impact of Brown’s catastrophic, off the UK books, PFI funding scam which is costing on average twice to three times what it was claimed it would cost and is it any wonder NHS England is in the mess and state of near collapse it clearly is.
NHS in England’s financial crisis lies wholly and utterly at the feet of Westminster politicians in the Blue and Red Tory Parties.
Leon Wolfeson
Ah yes “enrichment” by disrupting discussion screaming trolling, as you accuse me of being like you. That’s plain nasty on your part. And no, I no not share your views on gassing, and it’s no surprise you deny the Nazi’s crimes by trying to palm them off on to the left.
This is a private website. Something which apparently eludes you, and your right wing websites tend to very quick to ban not those who are there to disrupt the conversation, but those who simply hold other views, and who I pointed do not call for action against.
The fact you need to defend someone here spewing about “out of touch lefties” and when the Labour party has moved right so many times makes you the former. Then there’s your attempt to invoke Godwin’s law…
Guest
You mistook my post for Phil’s, I see.
Guest
You are making up random nonsense to attack basic rights.