Most new SNP supporters voted Labour in 2010

More new support for the SNP comes from Labour than any other source, new polling reveals. YouGov research for the Times Red Box (£) has found that 42% of new SNP voters supported Scottish Labour in 2010.

The poll studies those who plan to vote for the Scottish Nationalists in this general election, but who didn’t five years ago. An ICM poll yesterday put the SNP on 43% in Scotland, 23 points higher than their result in 2010.

Of that new support, 42% comes from Scottish Labour, 24% from the Lib Dems, and 6% from the Tories. 23% did not vote last time, while 5% could not remember.

Rachel Reeves and Jim Murphy will appear together in Glasgow today, where they will try and appeal to former Labour voters now supporting the SNP. Murphy is set to announce a new spending commitment on welfare in Scotland, while Reeves will reaffirm Labour’s promise to scrap the Bedroom Tax.

The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary will say that Labour can “beat the Tories across the UK”, but Scottish voters must help by voting Labour to “kick the Tories”. Reeves will say:

“The first thing I’ll do as Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary in May is scrap David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s cruel Bedroom Tax.

“Two thirds of those hit by the Bedroom Tax are disabled and it has forced families to rely on food banks. Only a Labour government will scrap the cruel and unfair Bedroom tax.

“You can’t get a Labour Government by proxy. If you want a Labour Government you have to vote to send vote to send MPs to kick the Tories, because Labour is big enough and strong enough to beat the Tories across the UK.

“Every vote for the SNP in Scotland makes a Tory Government more likely, and 5 more years of the bedroom tax imposed on some of the most vulnerable people across the UK.”