As more bad economic news continues to assail the UK Government, the Coalition partners are facing electoral catastrophe in Scotland, according to a new opinion poll.
A Panelbase poll carried out earlier this month for the Sunday Times and Real Radio Scotland shows that voting intentions for the Holyrood constituency list puts the Lib Dems 2% down on their catastrophic result in May 2011, leaving them on just 6%.
Meanwhile the Conservatives have also dropped 2%, with only 12% of Scots voters supporting the party. Although Ruth Davidson was elected as party leader on a platform of renewing and reinvigorating the ailing Scottish Tories, the party is now polling worse than it did under former leader Annabel Goldie.
The poll also asked the panel of 1000 Scottish voters about their voting intentions in the regional list elections. The figures make even more gloomy news for the Lib Dems, with a paltry 4% of the electorate backing them in the regional list, behind the Greens on 6%. The Conservatives also show a slight drop in the regional list, down 1% to 11%.
The poll holds little good news for Labour leader Ed Miliband and his Scottish counterpart Johann Lamont. Labour remain stuck on the dismal 32% rating which they returned at the May 2011 election. Despite the re-organisation of the party in Scotland, the election of Ms Lamont as its new Scottish leader, and an unpopular Conservative led government in Westminster, Labour has failed to make any headway.
Showing the SNP up 2% to 47% in the constituency list, the Panelbase poll is the latest in a series which show the SNP continues to surpass the historic result it achieved in the last Holyrood elections. Voting intentions for the SNP in the regional list are also up 2%. If the poll results were repeated in a Holyrood election, the SNP would increase its majority.
SNP Campaigns Director Angus Robertson said:
“The poll is a complete disaster for the Lib Dems – who have slumped even beyond their slump – and now must be asking themselves how low they can go. To get two points less than their embarrassing election result last year is humiliating.”
Mr Robertson added that the Lib Dems have now become “irrelevant” in Scotland, and blamed the party’s misfortunes on its “unholy alliance with the Tories”.
Turning his attention to the Conservatives, Mr Robertson said that the Tories’ collapsing poll ratings were “a disaster for David Cameron and Ruth Davidson”, adding:
“Losing another two per cent on their catastrophic result last year is testament to the mounting troubles facing the Tories.
“What a shambles the Tory party in Scotland has become under Ms Davidson – not only is she losing support, she’s at odds with her Prime Minister on what Scotland’s constitutional future should be. Meanwhile, the people of Scotland are rejecting Mr Cameron’s vague promises of jam tomorrow.”
Mr Robertson continued:
“The message is loud and clear – the overwhelming majority of people are fed up at the Tories who don’t understand or care about what they want.
“The more people look at the kind of country they want Scotland to be the more they realise that the status quo is holding Scotland back – and are rejecting the relentless negativity of the Tory-led anti-independence parties.”