SNP ahead of Labour for first time
Friday, 11 July 2008 12:00 AM
The Scottish National party (SNP) have slipped ahead of Labour for the first time, in a worrying sign for Labour as the Glasgow East by-election approaches.
A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph shows the SNP ahead of Labour in voting intentions for a UK general election for the first time in the party's history.
The figures put the SNP on 33 per cent - up 15 per cent from their 2005 result - and Labour on 29 per cent, down 11 per cent.
Even the Conservatives - currently facing a political wasteland north of the border - enjoy a rise in support, up four to 20 per cent.
In a further headache for the ruling party, the poll also showed most Scots hoping for a Labour defeat at the Glasgow-East by-election.
Forty-nine per cent want the SNP candidate John Mason to win, while only 33 per cent want Labour's Margaret Curran to win.
SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon jumped on the poll as evidence of the party's runaway success in Scotland.
"That is a massively encouraging finding, which will fuel the SNP's campaign and have Labour quaking in their boots," she said.
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