The Scottish National Party holds an eight-point lead over Labour in a poll commissioned by Labour itself, the biggest gap registered by recent surveys. It suggests that, if the findings are translated into results at the ballot box next May, the Nationalists would win nine seats more than Labour, and be in the driving seat to form a new coalition administration.
The private poll, carried out by independent research company Populus, found Labour lagging eight points adrift of the SNP on both the constituency and the regional votes. One analysis of those figures suggests Labour would lose 14 of the 50 seats it holds, while the SNP would gain as many as 18 seats, on top of the 27 it won in 2003.
But the kind of attacks pursued by Brown, Alexander and Reid at the Oban Conference really won't do Labour any good. The Scottish electorate will not buy being lectured by Westminster politicians about the faults of Mr Salmond; they are more than capable of making up their own minds. And it was noticeable that Mr McConnell took a rather less belligerent stand. Ruth Wishart, also in The Herald, has some excellent advice for the First Minister:
I once had a notice on my office door which I commend to Mr McConnell. It read: "If things don't improve, I'm going to have to ask you to stop helping me."
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