Jim Murphy doing well as Scottish Labour leader, according to LabourList readers

Jim Murphy is doing a good job leading Scottish Labour, according to the results of the latest LabourList survey. Although it has been a tough week for the party, with some disastrous constituency polling dominating headlines, readers clearly feel Murphy is doing well in difficult circumstances.

Murphy has been leader of Scottish Labour for just under two months, when he was selected with 55% of the vote, and over the past few days has faced possibly his hardest week in the job so far. On Tuesday, a Scotland-wide poll gave the SNP a 21 point lead over Labour, while constituency polling on Wednesday saw an average 25% swing from Labour to the Nationalists since 2010.

However, Murphy has used his high profile to court greater media attention for Scottish Labour, and has neither been afraid to avowedly court those who voted Yes in the referendum, nor attack the Scottish National Party for their shortcomings.

28% of respondents think Murphy is doing a good job, while 21% believe his doing very well. A further 21% believe his efforts as leader have been fair, and the 15% who say they do not know slightly outnumber those who think he is doing poorly (8%) or very poorly (7%) combined.

Murphy has been unafraid to clash with other Labour figures, most notably with potential London Mayoral candidates over his support for the Mansion Tax – although that led to Scottish Labour MPs coming out to publicly back him, which may have helped shore up his popularity.

He has certainly been busy in his short time at the top. He has overseen a rewriting of Clause IV of the party’s constitution, which will now be debated at a special one-day conference; confirmed Scottish Labour’s opposition to onshore fracking; hired experienced campaigners to his personal office; and, along with Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown, reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to a Home Rule Bill going further than the Vow.