Labour's own polling predicts win for SNP!

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.

The information was leaked to The Herald in the wake of another worrying poll published in a newspaper yesterday, which put the SNP five points clear of its main rival on both votes. A confidential warning from a senior Labour strategist says that the party's polling position is "bleak" and "a major concern".

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/75470-print.shtml