Just six weeks after majority voted no, YouGov survey finds 52% of people in favour of leaving UK

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The race to lead the Labour party in Scotland has intensified with further union backing for left-wing candidate Neil Findlay and visible support from elected members for centrist Jim Murphy.

Unison, Scotland’s largest trade union, has joined transport union Aslef in backing Findlay, while Unite poured scorn on Murphy’s campaign launch in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Alistair Darling, former chancellor and Better Together chairman, turned out in support of Murphy, alongside MSPs John Pentland, James Kelly and Hanzala Malik, as well as Glasgow city council leader Gordon Matheson.

Murphy said he wanted to reclaim Labour as “the national party of Scotland”, insisting he would hold all of the seats that two polls last week predicted Labour would spectacularly lose, and reverse the growing appetite for another independence referendum.

Separate polls for The Times and STV predicted that Labour would lose a quarter of their Scottish MPs at best, and could be on course to lose 90%, leaving a rump of just four.

On Friday, Findlay insisted the party was in trouble unless it devised policies that people “recognise as Labour”.

Unite said it was finding it “extremely difficult to find much hope” in what Murphy had offered so far.

Findlay has set himself against Trident nuclear weapons and expressed sympathy for full devolution of income tax, while Murphy has spoken out against unilateral disarmament and remained cagey over his own fiscal devolution proposals.

Murphy pledged to reveal more about his tax plans in the coming weeks, but he dismissed Gordon Brown’s warning that full devolution of income tax was a Tory trap designed to strip Scottish MPs of their voting rights.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Murphy said: “At our best we have always been the national party of Scotland. Many Scots need us back – and I’m here to say we’re coming back.”

Further data from The Times poll suggested 52% of Scots now backed independence, with the STV poll finding that two-thirds wanted another referendum within a decade.

When those who would not vote or do not know are included, the split was 49% for Yes and 45% for No, the poll of 1,078 Scottish adults between 27 and 30 October found.

Scotland voted 55% in favour of keeping the UK together in the referendum on 18 September.

Murphy said: “There is a sense that politicians have to go on and deliver the degree of devolution, we have to honour our commitments in the referendum so that we have a more powerful and influential parliament. I think once that’s done these numbers will change, of course.”

Looking ahead to the general election, he said: “We will win all of the seats we currently have – what we have we will hold.

“I know how we can do that. It’s going to take a lot of work, I’m confident we can do it and that will be a great springboard for 2016 when I know with even more work, a great deal of passion and a love of our country we can have the determination to change what is wrong with our country.

“If I didn’t believe we can win in 2015 and 2016 I wouldn’t be standing for leader.”

He said: “I’m not going to do the Alex Salmond thing of going up and down and making multiple journeys between the two parliaments.

“The fact is things have changed in Scotland, Holyrood is changing, more decisions are going to be taken here in Scotland and I want to be part of that.”

Findlay, who attended a union hustings in Glasgow on Saturday, said: “The vision Labour needs is one of creating jobs, building houses and providing college places. We should be listening to the people – like them, I want an end to youth unemployment, to address the crisis in social care and provide working people with a fair wage and dignity through a decent job.

“That’s the vision I think that the Scottish people want to see.”

Unison Scotland’s Labour link chair Gordon McKay said: “Neil understands that politics as usual isn’t good enough and we believe he offers a fresh approach with a real experience and understanding of the concerns of working people.”

Pat Rafferty, leader of Unite in Scotland, said: “Mr Murphy needs to put away his Irn Bru crate and start setting out what he stands for.”