As Scottish Labour prepares to announce new leader – poll puts SNP 20 points ahead

All eyes are on Glasgow this morning where the Scottish Labour leadership results will be announced. LabourList readers have already had their say – telling us that they think that Jim Murphy will be elected leader, and Kezia Dugdale will be elected Deputy Leader. That said – the result is still far from clear cut.

Scottish referendum Donald Dewar statue

What is clear though is the current polling predicament that the new leader will have to face. A new YouGov/Sun poll(£) shows the SNP are 20 points ahead of Labour in Scotland (47% v 27%). That would see Labour lose 34 seats in Scotland, and almost certainly see Miliband’s chances of a majority in parliament extinguished.

The poll also suggests that a majority of Scottish voters believe that the Smith Commission (which gave Scotland wide ranging powers – including over Income Tax) didn’t go far enough and that if the referendum were re-run today, support for leaving the Union might mean separation.

The result of the Scottish Labour leadership ballot will be announced at 10.30am.

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