New poll sees Scottish Labour closing gap on SNP – as Bailie calls for Scottish OBR

Scottish Labour appears to be closing the gap with the SNP, according to a new poll from Panelbase for the Sunday Times. The poll shows the SNP on 41% of the vote compared to 31% for Labour, and suggests that Labour has turned a corner under Jim Murphy’s leadership. That’s a significant change compared to the 17 point lead for the SNP in November with the same pollster and a far cry from the SNP leads of 20, 29 and 34 points that were appearing in the polls late last year.

Of course a 10 point lead for the SNP still puts the Scottish Labour Party in an incredibly precarious position, and a result like this on election night in May would see the party losing a swathe of “safe” seats (20 seats in total – half of the Scottish PLP). However, the direction of polling travel appears to be back in Labour’s direction.

Meanwhile Jackie Baillie, Labour’s Finance spokesperson in Holyrood, has called on the SNP to introduce an SOBR (that’s an OBR for Scotland), saying:

“Taking responsibility for giving Scots an honest assessment of the public finances away from ministers and putting it into the hands of experts free of political manipulation is the right thing to do for Scotland.

“With the major new powers coming to Scotland the government in Edinburgh will be responsible for collecting much of the taxes Scots pay. We need to know there is a watchdog holding ministers to account. The need for independent, reliable and impartial economic forecasting and analysis couldn’t be greater.

“But I want the Scottish OBR to go one step further, and scrutinise the manifestos of all the political parties at the Scottish Parliament. Voters in Scotland deserve to make an informed choice. There should be no place to hide for those seeking the trust of the Scottish people.

“When John Swinney presents his budget to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday he should accept Scottish Labour’s plan for a Scottish OBR.

“The way the SNP cooked the books on oil during the referendum proved they can’t be trusted to be honest with the Scottish people about the public finances. Scots were misled on oil by the SNP and it must never happen again.”