Scots Labour Chiefs Trail in Poll

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander are on track for heavy defeats to the SNP at the General Election, new constituency polling has indicated. Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative peer, found Mr Murphy is nine points behind, while Mr Alexander is losing by 11 points. The news was no better for the Liberal Democrats, with former leader Charles Kennedy 15 points behind in the race for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, while Jo Swinson, the Business Minister, is 11 points down in East Dunbartonshire. The polls suggests seven SNP gains across Scotland, with the Tories one point ahead in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk - which was held by Liberal Democrat Michael Moore. Lord Ashcroft's polling also indicated the SNP would gain Glasgow South West from Labour, take North East Fife from the Liberal Democrats and seize Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale from the Tories. Each constituency poll featured 1,000 voters with surveys completed between April 11 and yesterday. Lord Ashcroft said: "I wanted to know whether the SNP surge had subsided in places I had previously surveyed; whether it threatened other incumbents, especially Lib Dems; and whether there were any potential surprises in store. "The answers are no, yes and yes. In the three Labour seats the SNP are further ahead than when I polled them earlier in the year.''