Holyrood poll gives Labour win

LABOUR is on course for a shock victory over the SNP at the next Holyrood election - despite gathering FEWER votes than the nationalists.

A major new poll, commissioned by the Scottish Greens, shows Scotland's two main parties in a close-run battle in 2011.

And it also shows the Greens boosting their current two-man parliamentary group with an extra THREE MSPs.

Last night Scottish Greens chief Patrick Harvie said: "This poll would make the SNP the biggest losers in a Holyrood vote, and it's not hard to see why the shine is coming off."

And Labour's Scottish chief Iain Gray said: "This has been a bad week for Alex Salmond.

"It is clear the SNP's failure to respond adequately to the recession has alienated the business community.

"The message is starting to get through that Scottish

Labour is the party of jobs and the economy, housing and tough action on crime."

The survey - carried out by YouGov - shows Labour and the SNP level-pegging with 29 per cent support in the regional list vote. In the constituency vote, the Nats actually LEAD Labour by 34 to 31.

But the concentration of Labour seats in west and central Scotland suggests that they will BEAT Alex Salmond's team in May 2011.

The poll suggests that the SNP would DROP six seats, ending up with 41, while Labour would lose one, giving them 45 MSPs. The Conservatives would see an

increase of three seats, giving Annabel Goldie a 20-strong group of MSPs, while Tavish Scott's Lib Dems would secure two more MSPs, giving them a total of 18.

Harvie's Greens, with a two-point increase in the regional vote, would more than double in size, up from two to five MSPs.

Harvie said: "The 2007 election was extremely tight, and week after week ever since, every seat at Holyrood has mattered. Over the last two years Green MSPs have held the balance of power on countless issues, from the abolition of tuition fees to the defence of public transport. Our voters backed us because they want to see a fairer, more equal and more sustainable Scotland, and we have worked hard to try to move Scottish politics in that direction."

Harvie claimed SNP support for projects such as US tycoon Donald Trump's planned golf course and hotel in Aberdeenshire had cost them support.

He added: "They say they stand up for Scotland, but as the Trump case shows, they're ready to put their rich friends' interests first instead.

"Their pet transport projects take no account of climate change, while their economic stance is the same failed business-as-usual approach they share with all the other parties.

"Results like this show that we can hope to make progress at the next election. As the UK General Election next year looms, and the Holyrood poll the year after, Green votes are more powerful than ever."

An SNP spokesman added: "When it comes to an election, and the list vote effectively determines who becomes First Minister, there is no contest between Alex Salmond and the invisible Iain Gray."

YouGov interviewed 1,114 Scots voters between October 26 and 28.

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