Labour’s spending on targeted social media adverts has far outstripped its Scottish rivals, with the party accounting for one third of the entire election outlay.

In the 30 days up to December 5 the party paid £121,316 to promote material on Facebook from pages belonging to Scottish Labour, UK Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, according to the social media company’s library. Those pages account for three of the top four highest-spending individual Facebook accounts in Scotland during this period of the election campaign.

Specific groups of voters are being targeted, particularly those identified as being prepared to switch support to Labour from the SNP. These people are seen as soft independence supporters who backed a separate Scotland because it was sold in some quarters