Browsed by
Category: Scotland

Did the first debate further Labour’s Scottish challenge?

Did the first debate further Labour’s Scottish challenge?

Comments 0 Comment

Meanwhile the SNP nose ahead in new poll Last night the fight for control of the Holyrood parliament and who should be Scotland’s First Minister had its first major set piece – a leaders’ debate broadcast by STV. You can see it in full here. This was the first time I’d really watched Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray, in serious action and my impression was that he’s better than many non-Labour Scottish posters have suggested – but that’s not saying…

Read More Read More

Should you be taking the 7/2 against the SNP?

Should you be taking the 7/2 against the SNP?

Comments 0 Comment

Scottish Election polls Date LAB % SNP % CON % LD % GRN % Constituency             TNS-BMRB/STV 27/03/11 38 37 14 7   YouGov 18/03/11 41 38 10 6   ICM 14/03/11 39 35 13 10   Regional             TNS-BMRB/STV 27/03/11 35 35 14 8 5 YouGov 18/03/11 39 32 11 6 5 ICM 14/03/11 37 34 13 9 4 Could the SNP hang on to power in Scotland? There’s…

Read More Read More

Could the Salmond factor give the SNP the edge?

Could the Salmond factor give the SNP the edge?

Comments 0 Comment

Might leader ratings be a better pointer in Scotland? We’ve just had two new Scottish polls, from, ICM and YouGov, and both point to reasonable leads for Labour over the SNP in both the constituency and regions sections. But both firms also had leader-related questions that make the picture less rosy for the red team. ICM asked “Putting aside your own party preference, which one of the following do you think is best qualified to be First Minister of Scotland?“….

Read More Read More

New Scottish ICM poll has Labour just 4 ahead

New Scottish ICM poll has Labour just 4 ahead

Comments 0 Comment

Could the top pollster from 2007 be right again? There’s a new ICM poll of Scotland that is showing quite a different picture of opinion in the country compared with other recent surveys from other firms. The figures are as follows:- The constituency voting intentions show: Lab 39, SNP 35, Con 12, LD 10, Oth 4 The regional voting intention shows: Lab 37, SNP 34, Con 13, LD 9, Grn 4, Oth 7 The actual constituency breakdown from 2007 was…

Read More Read More

MORI has the SNP just ahead in Scotland

MORI has the SNP just ahead in Scotland

Comments 0 Comment

There’s a new poll from Ipsos-MORI on the May 5th Scottish parliament elections which has the SNP just ahead of Labour – the first time this has happened. Compared with the last survey from the pollster the SNP is up 6 while Labour is down five. For the regional list voting intention MORI has: SNP 35%(+3) LAB 33%(-3): CON 13%(+1): LD 10%(+1):GRN 6% Until this point everything seemed to be pointing to Labour coming out on top even if they…

Read More Read More

Should Iain Gray offer the Scottish Lib Dems a lifeline?

Should Iain Gray offer the Scottish Lib Dems a lifeline?

Comments 0 Comment

A guest slot by Lucien Fletcher With opinion polls suggesting that Labour will perform well in the Scottish Parliament elections on May 5th, the party will have a great opportunity to move on from a difficult couple of years. The party should retain its hold on the National Assembly for Wales, make strong gains in English local authorities and regain power in the Scottish Parliament. Unless all opinion polls are utterly wrong in Scotland, Labour will be comfortably the largest…

Read More Read More

Does Scotland hold the key to the referendum outcome?

Does Scotland hold the key to the referendum outcome?

Comments 0 Comment

AV referendum question – actual wording on the ballot (ICM 10,011 sample poll) YES % NO % All 59 41 Scotland 65 35 North 62 38 North West 57 43 Yorks 57 43 East Midlands 56 44 West Midlands 57 43 Wales 59 41 Eastern 59 41 Greater London 60 40 South East 61 39 South West 61 39 Would a delay in the timing favour the NOES One of the consequences of the big Labour filibuster in the House…

Read More Read More

So the Megrahi release was a dirty deal after all?

So the Megrahi release was a dirty deal after all?

Comments 0 Comment

Guardian Will the revelations take the heat off the SNP? Over the past eighteen months the SNP government in Edinburgh has taken a lot of stick over the decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing who was serving a jail sentence in Scotland. Now, thanks to Wiki-leaks in the Guardian, we’ve got what appears to be the real story – that Libya was threatening to take “harsh and immediate” action against UK interests in the…

Read More Read More