Nationalists on track to win all Scottish seats in UK election, new poll suggests
Scottish nationalists eye ‘enormous clout’ in next British government, says SNP leader
The Scottish National Party (SNP) could win all the Scottish seats in Britain’s parliament at a national election next week, according to projections based on an opinion poll published on Wednesday.
The Ipsos MORI poll for STV, conducted between April 22 and 27, showed support for the SNP, which has surged in popularity since a failed bid for Scottish independence last September, at 54 per cent, up two points since January.
According to a projection by the Electoral Calculus website, that would see it win all 59 Scottish seats, wiping out a former stronghold for the opposition Labour Party and denting their chances of victory in the May 7 vote.
The poll put Labour down four percentage points on 20 per cent, just ahead of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives who were up five points on 17 per cent. In 2010, Labour won 41 seats in Scotland, while the Conservatives won just one.
With Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck in most national polls, neither is expected to win an outright majority, meaning the SNP could hold the balance of power.
The SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday the party could wield “enormous clout” in the British government after a May 7 national election, promising to block Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron from returning to power.