Brown utilised for Scottish vote

Monday, 2 May 2011 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Gordon Brown has returned to urge Scottish voters to resist the Scottish National party (SNP), saying the party would "destroy jobs".

The former prime minister joined Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray in Livingstone, in a bid to highlight the difference between the two parties' economic agenda.

"There are those that will create jobs, like Labour, and those that will destroy jobs, and that will be the SNP," he said.

Nationalists treated the appearance with disdain, however, with one SNP spokesperson saying: "This is an embarrassing effort from Gordon Brown. Not for the first time, Brown is talking Balls."

Mr Brown retains much higher popularity north of the border than he does in England, but his appearance in the contest is unlikely to significantly change the reality on the ground three days ahead of polling day.

Labour are gradually chipping away at the SNP's lead with a YouGov survey putting the incumbents on 42%, a drop of three points in the last week, compared to Labour's 35%, an increase of four points.

But a seperate poll for the Scotsman showed that 50% of voters believe the SNP is better at standing up for Scotland, while only 31% think Labour is stronger.

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• scotland