AS THERESA May makes a campaign stop in Scotland today, the SNP have asked if she’ll actually meet any “real voters” or if she’ll just continue her North-Korean style tour – speaking only to cheering party hacks in empty buildings.

This is the Prime Minister’s first trip north of the Border since calling the election last week. If previous campaign stops are anything to go by then it’s likely to be a highly stage-managed affair.

Yesterday Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused May of hiding from the public after it transpired the Tories filled a Leeds community regeneration project with loyal party hacks after everyone else in the building had left for the day.

“She won’t take part in TV debates and she won’t talk to voters,” Corbyn said. “Refusing to debate Labour in this election isn’t a sign of strength, it’s a sign of weakness. What is she afraid of? Voters deserve to know what political parties are offering.”

Last week, writing in this paper, former first minister Alex Salmond suggested this was all part of the strategy devised for May by her campaign manager Lynton Crosby. With the Tories so far ahead nationally, Salmond argued, May was taking absolutely no risks at all whatsoever.

Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin told The National she would be surprised if the Prime Minister actually met a real voter during her trip, saying: “It will be interesting to see if Theresa May will be making herself available to local people and will put herself in the position of having to answer questions on her manifesto and policy decisions like you’d expect of any other prime ministerial candidate. Given her recent form I suspect not.”

May had dodged out of the TV debates, with a spokeswoman saying the Prime Minister would rather be “answering questions on the doorstep with real voters”.

That seemingly has yet to happen.

In one slightly awkward gaffe while speaking to reporters in Clay Cross, in Derbyshire, it seemed as if the Prime Minister had forgotten where she was when she told a TV crew she was “very happy to be in this, urr, particular town”.

May’s visit to Scotland will be in part because of a poll in yesterday’s Times suggesting the Tories could take eight seats off the SNP at June’s election. The Yougov poll put support for May’s party at 28 per cent, up an astonishing 13 points. If they did win eight seats, it would be their best result in Scotland since 1992.

They are still far, far behind the SNP on 41 per cent; though Nicola Sturgeon’s party have lost nine points since Yougov’s last poll. Labour are down six points to 18 per cent, their lowest rating in a decade.

This could see Labour keeping Ian Murray’s Edinburgh South, while the Tories took eight seats, including Angus Robertson’s Moray, and Pete Wishart’s Perth and North Perthshire.

The poll also suggests a revival for the Liberal Democrats with gains in John Nicolson’s East Dunbartonshire and Michelle Thomson Edinburgh West.

Meanwhile, The Herald has suggested Labour have all but given up in Scotland, reportedly targeting just three seats. One of those is East Renfrewshire. Nicola Sturgeon was there on the campaign trail yesterday, with sitting MP Kirsten Oswald. She faces stiff challenges from Tory Paul Masterton and Labour’s Blair McDougall, former Better Together chief.

Sturgeon said: “From their defence of the rape clause to their failure to commit to fair pensions and the slew of statistics outlining the consequences of Tory austerity, it’s clear that the Tories are failing Scotland and will continue to do so.

“The Tories found money to cut taxes for the rich in their budget, but everyone else is paying the price for their right-wing agenda. Families on low incomes, children, the elderly, women, the disabled – even the bereaved – have all borne the brunt of Tory cuts.

“The truth is the more Tory MPs Westminster has, the heavier the price Scotland will pay.”

In the Times poll, Sturgeon had a positive approval rating of plus two, with 47 per cent of people questioned stating she is doing well in her role compared to 45 per cent who said she was doing badly.

The Prime Minister, however scored -14 per cent, with 51 per cent stating she was doing badly compared to 37 per cent who think she is performing well.

Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson told the paper: “This poll reveals Theresa May is more in touch with people in Scotland than Nicola Sturgeon.”

The poll of 1,000 people, carried out last earlier this week, found 45 percent of Scots backing independence, with 55 percent in favour of the Union – the same result as recorded in the 2014 referendum, but up two points on the last YouGov poll.