Labour Heading For Losses In Fife And Edinburgh

Labour risk losing some key seats in Scotland to the SNP, including Gordon Brown's in Fife and Alistair Darling's in Edinburgh, at the general election. A poll for Tory peer Lord Ashcroft suggests Labour is on course to lose Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, being fought by Kenny Selbie after the former prime minister announced he was standing down. The research found a 28.5% swing to Nicola Sturgeon's party. The seat being vacated by former Chancellor Alistair Darling, Edinburgh South West, is also set to go to the nationalists, the polling found. In the study of eight key seats, the SNP gains six and ties in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale - the Conservatives' only seat north of the border. Labour and the Conservatives are heading for a dead heat on polling day of 272 seats each, although the pollster was keen to stress some of the results are marginal and findings are a snapshot rather than a prediction. He said: "As things stand, Labour losses in Scotland could offset their gains from the Tories, leading to something close to a dead heat.''