Scottish council elections: SNP and Labour both claim polls lead

By Alastair Dalton
Published on 30/04/2012 00:56

BOTH Labour and the SNP are claiming to be ahead in the latest opinion polls as the parties prepare for the final three days of campaigning ahead of Thursday’s council elections.

The Nationalists claimed the latest YouGov survey results put them in the lead, but Labour claimed polling data from the last ten days showed it was strengthening its position.

The Liberal Democrats also turned on the SNP, dismissing its claim as “voodoo maths”.

The SNP said a sub-sample from a YouGov poll at the weekend gave it 35 per cent of the vote compared to 33 per cent for Labour.

The Conservatives were on 18 per cent, with the Lib Dems on 10 per cent.

SNP campaigns director, Angus Robertson MP, said: “It just shows how Labour has pitched its local government campaign wrongly, and this latest polling indication brings particular embarrassment for Labour, who had issued a press release this very weekend claiming a poll lead on the basis of YouGov’s Scottish samples.”

Labour said polling figures over the last week put the party on 44 per cent against the SNP’s 28 per cent. It said it was now well ahead of the SNP, having come from behind in early April, with an average nine-point lead over the last ten days.

Labour chief whip James Kelly, said: “As we enter the final push, this is a great boost in morale for the thousands of Labour candidates and campaigners on the doorsteps.”

The Lib Dems said the latest poll figures touted by the SNP should be discounted because it covered just 149 people.

A spokesman said: “This is voodoo maths. The sample for Scotland is so small that the margin of error is almost as big as the SNP vote.

“It’s statistical nonsense and the SNP should know better.

“People know that a local vote for a Liberal Democrat is a vote for a local champion. No poll can measure that.”