Labour on attack as poll predicts a wipeout

Party forecast to take just two seats

SCOTTISH Labour have launched an all-out attack on the SNP in a bid to salvage what they can from the election by securing tactical support on May 7.

Leader Jim Murphy and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls claimed a large contingent of SNP MPs would devote their energies to engineering a swift re-run of last year’s independence referendum.

They teamed up in Glasgow as a new poll suggested support for Labour is ebbing away to the Nationalists, who were predicted to take 57 of Scotland’s 59 seats.

However the TNS survey showed large numbers of Scots remain undecided, with a separate poll suggesting up to one-quarter may vote tactically. Another poll, by Survation, predicted 51 per cent of Scots would vote for the SNP.

Asked whether Labour hoped to benefit, Mr Balls said Scots are “thinking hard how to use their vote and what their vote will mean”.

Mr Murphy said: “In my own constituency I’ve always built a coalition of voters, that’s always been the case.”

Labour trained their fire on the SNP as Prime Minister David Cameron sought to instil some passion into a Tory campaign seen as listless and negative.

He said: “I have a duty to spend the next ten days to win the election outright. Ten days to save the United Kingdom.”

He added the SNP were not planning on coming to Westminster to “make it a success.”

Today, Mr Cameron will pledge to create 50,000 apprenticeships using last week’s £227 million fine for Deutsche Bank over its rigging of the Libor rate.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, will today tell supporters: “In recent days we have seen the opposition parties resort to the fears and scare tactics that they always seem to fall back on.

“They are out of ideas – and they are running out of time.”

Labour accused the Nationalists of planning a second referendum after a leaked video emerged in which SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie vowed to press for full fiscal autonomy, or devo max.

Speaking to activists, he admitted the policy would be blocked at Westminster but claimed that would be a “gamechanger” leading to a second referendum.

Mr Balls said: “Nicola Sturgeon says this isn’t about another referendum.

“But her Deputy Leader – when he thought he was only taking to the party faithful – has given the game away.

“SNP MPs will demand things they know we would never deliver.

“If we don’t sign up to full fiscal autonomy, which we won’t, they will say we have betrayed them and demand a referendum.”

Mr Murphy said: “It is the Nationalists’ clear intention to pursue a second referendum sooner rather than later if they are given the opportunity.

“They would consign Scotland to years of deepening division.

“SNP MPs will be working every day for another referendum, rather than working hard for working Scots.”

Raising the prospect of a fresh referendum is in stark contrast to Mr Murphy’s strategy at the start of the year when he set out to woo 190,000 Labour supporters who voted Yes in the referendum. Labour initially sought to avoid making the referendum an election issue

for fear of alienating them. However, far from closing the gap, Labour has seen the SNP extend its lead.

Ms Sturgeon has claimed the election is “not about independence” and said she would not take victory on May 7 as a mandate for a second referendum. She has said a second independence poll would be justified if Britain left the EU despite Scotland voting to stay in, but has sought to dampen expectations of a clear referendum pledge in her manifesto for next year’s Holyrood election.

The TNS survey found 29 per cent of voters were still undecided, a figure unchanged from a month ago. And a YouGov poll for the Scotland in Union, a pro-UK campaign group that promotes tactical voting, suggested one in seven Scots are planning to vote tactically, with a further 10 per cent considering it.

Mr Murphy said there were more undecided voters so close to polling day than during any election in his lifetime, but stressed: “We are asking Labour voters to vote for Labour candidates.”

He said if the result reflected the polls it would “turbo-charge the SNP’s campaign for a second referendum.”

The Liberal Democrats have made an undisguised plea for people to vote tactically to keep the SNP out, as they fight desperately to hang on to their 11 Scottish seats.

Alastair Cameron, of Scotland in Union, claimed tactical voting could save “many” Labour, Lib Dem and Tory seats. He said “People are realising that without tactical voting, they could accidentally hand victory to divisive candidates who won’t work positively for Scotland and the UK.”

Ms Sturgeon will tell supporters today: “Making Scotland stronger at Westminster is at the heart of our campaign – and where we can use our influence to achieve progressive policies across the UK, I am committed to doing so.”