Some of Scotland’s biggest political names are on course to lose their seats in two months’ time as a result of an unprecedented surge by the Scottish National Party (SNP). The former Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, is currently polling behind the Nationalists whilst Labour’s Scottish leader Jim Murphy is just one percent ahead.
The SNP has seen a remarkable hike in both membership and poll ratings since losing the independence referendum. After the loss they picked up thousands of voters who had backed independence but had previously voted for other parties.
The latest polling comes from Lord Ashcroft, who looked at individual seats and discovered a swing from Labour to the SNP of between 21 and 29 percent. The results might cause a number of politicians to feel a relieved they have already announced they were stepping down, as their seats now look likely to fall to the SNP. Two of the most well known are the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the former Chancellor Alistair Darling.
Jim Murphy told the Daily Express: “There is no gloss that can be put on these polls. This is bad news for Scottish Labour but great news for the Tories. We can’t let David Cameron back into Downing Street by the back door.”
Pundits have suggested the SNP might rise from six seats in the House of Commons to over 40. However, a source in the SNP leadership told Breitbart London this was “unlikely”. He said: “We’d be delighted with 25 seats, and that looks possible. Anything beyond that would require truly enormous swings.”
The SNP may well hold the balance of power after the election, which they claim they would use to support Labour. This led the Prime Minister to claim the country might be run by: “Those who want to break up up the United Kindgom and those who want to bankrupt the United Kingdom.”
This boost to the SNP comes after they became the fourth largest party in membership terms in the UK last September.