Scottish Labour set for worst election result since devolution

Oh dear. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will have been hoping for some positive headlines this weekend, as his party’s 2025 conference looms next week – but it wasn’t to be. New Norstat polling for the Sunday Times, interviewing 1,026 people between 11-14 February, suggests Sarwar’s group is heading for its worst Holyrood election result since devolution. When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours…

After Sir Keir Starmer’s army won a landslide victory at the general election, some in the Scottish Labour group harboured high hopes for their chances in the 2026 Holyrood election. Yet the Norstat survey reveals less than a fifth of Scots intend to back the party next year – which would leave them with the same number of seats as the Scottish Tories are predicted to cling onto: just 18. Meanwhile the SNP would pick up 35 per cent of the constituency vote with Reform UK coming up the sidelines to scoop 14 per cent – splitting the unionist vote north of the border.