Poll finds SNP support on 54 per cent

Support for the Scottish National party has risen to 54 per cent, according to a poll that suggests Labour could face total wipeout north of the border in next week's general election.

The Ipsos Mori survey for STV was the latest blow to Scottish Labour, which won 41 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats in 2010 but is now facing a rout that could make the SNP Britain's third largest party.

The poll found support for the SNP, which won only 6 seats in 2010, had climbed by 2 percentage points since January to 54 per cent, while Labour had fallen by 4 points to 20 per cent.

John Curtice, psephologist at Strathclyde university, said that if the trends found by the poll were replicated across Scotland, the SNP would take every seat with the exception of Orkney & Shetland, where Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael would "narrowly hang on".

Meanwhile, there was bad news for Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage as Lord Ashcroft published constituency polling showing both the Liberal Democrat and UK Independence Party leaders narrowly behind in their seats.

Mr Clegg is trailing Labour by one point in Sheffield Hallam, while Mr Farage is two points behind Craig Mackinlay, his Conservative rival in Thanet South. Polling suggests Labour voters may be switching to the Conservatives to stop Mr Farage, who has said he will step down as leader if he loses. However, both seats were in the margin of error

The Ipsos Mori survey had further bad news for Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour leader, reporting he had a net satisfaction rating of minus 19 points. Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and Scotland's first minister, had a satisfaction rating of plus 48 points.

Mr Murphy's party deputy Kezia Dugdale said that by backing the SNP, Scottish voters would make it more likely that the Conservatives would be the largest party, allowing David Cameron to hang on as prime minister.

"That would be a disaster for Scotland, but it's what could happen if this poll is repeated on election day," Ms Dugdale said.

The SNP said it was taking nothing for granted, but that as long as it and Labour had enough seats to outnumber the Conservative party in parliament, they could "lock David Cameron out of government".

Despite the suggestion it could lose its only Scottish seat, the Conservative party seized on the 5-point rise in its support reported by Ipsos Mori since January, saying it showed the party had the momentum going into the campaign's final week.

"People in Scotland have had a good look at Labour and the Lib Dems over the past five weeks. They appear to have been left unimpressed and have now decided against them," said Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader. "The question facing pro-UK supporters in Scotland is: why join a sinking ship?"

The recent rise leaves the party on 17 per cent of support, the same level they achieved in 2010, while Ipsos Mori said the Lib Dems, which won 19 per cent in 2010, were now at 5 per cent in Scotland.

Ipsos Mori said its results showed Labour could benefit from tactical voting, with a third of Conservative and Lib Dem supporters saying they might switch to Labour if they thought the party had a chance of winning in their constituency.

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