New Scottish poll piles pressure on Ed Miliband

PRESSURE is continuing to mount on Labour leader Ed Miliband as a poll revealed that twice as many voters in Scotland thought David Cameron will make the better Prime Minister after general election in May next year.

Reports say that a member of Mr Milibands shadow cabinet had said he has become a laughing stock. Picture: Robert Perry

The results of a Scottish sample of a Yougov poll comes after a Sunday paper reported that a member of Mr Miliband’s shadow cabinet had said he has become “a laughing stock”.

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Prominant London backbencher David Lammy claimed that the party had become “culturally adrift” from its core voters.

Meanwhile Labour former leadership contender Diane Abbott said Mr Miliband had “made a mistake” in sacking Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry over her tweet of a picture of a house with a white van draped in England flags.

“Emily Thornberry is not a snob, she doesn’t look down on council tenants,” she said.

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But defending her leader, shadow work and pensions secretary Shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves said it was “right” that Mrs Thornberry was no longer in her job.

She said: “I thought Emily was being condescending and disrespectful of people actually who I went into politics to serve, so I think it’s right that she went.

“I think it’s right that she’s no longer in her job because what she was suggesting doesn’t represent the ethos and the values of the Labour Party.

“I was angry when I saw it because I’m working hard, as are other Labour MPs and activists around the country, trying to get a Labour government back in six months’ time and she set that process back.”

The Yougov poll carried out at the end of last week of 1,995 voters had an unscientific sample size of 271 Scottish voters.

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The Scottish sample put Mr Miliband on 12 per cent as the best Prime Minister, compared to Mr Cameron at 24 per cent while Labour on 23 per cent was only just ahead of the Tories on 22 per cent and 18 points behind the SNP on 41 per cent.

The results came as campaigning Labour backbencher Tom Watson said in an article that the party would pay “a heavy price” for siding with the Tories in the referendum.

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