Labour rolls out big guns to shore up Scottish support

Scottish Labour rolled out its big guns to bolster support in its heartlands on Saturday in an effort to avoid an electoral bloodbath north of the border.

Gordon Brown, former-prime minister, joined Scottish party leader Jim Murphy to try to win over waverers west of Glasgow, an area that has become crucial to the outcome of the UK general election as Labour faces a near-wipeout at the hands of the SNP.

Just five days before polling day, the two men spent an hour charming voters in a busy shopping centre - an exception in a campaign that has been characterised by carefully-choreographed events that have been criticised for avoided contact with the public.

They were targeting shoppers at the Braehead complex in Paisley and Renfrewshire North - where, despite commanding a majority of more than 15,000, the local MP Jim Sheridan is in danger of losing his seat.

Braehead attracts visitors from across the region. In nearby Paisley and Renfrewshire South, Douglas Alexander, shadow foreign secretary, is in a close-run fight with the SNP's undergraduate candidate, Mhairi Black. Mr Murphy is in danger of losing in East Renfrewshire.

Yet in a sign that Labour sympathies remain strong locally - despite polls indicating its support has collapsed - a good-natured crowd formed on Saturday to catch a glimpse of the two party heavyweights.

"The tables are starting to turn," sang Mr Murphy at one point, joining in a local singer's impromptu rendition of Tracy Chapman's Talkin Bout A Revolution.

An SNP revolution is what Scottish Labour is trying to prevent in the area, where the party has dominated for decades.

Frederick, a 55-year-old council health and safety officer, has voted Labour all his life - and No in last year's independence referendum - but is tempted to switch to the SNP this time. "In the west coast of Scotland they [Labour] have taken it [support] as a given.

"The referendum was a wake-up call. Scots now are more aware of what's out there," he said.

Mr Brown and Mr Murphy had planned a walkabout, but it turned out there was no need. The crowds came to the, Smartphones at the ready, scores of shoppers gravitated towards Labour's heavy hitters. Mr Murphy obliged, taking dozens of selfies.

They were interrupted by only occasional heckling. Shouts included "Gize another vow, Brown", a reference to pledges made during the referendum campaign about more powers for Scotland.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Brown said: "Labour are Scottish patriots who believe in the need for change.

"While the SNP get up in the morning thinking of how they can achieve independence, we get up in the morning thinking of how we can achieve social justice."

Yet the public seemed more keen to take photos than discuss politics. Few asked serious questions.

In a reminder that not all of Scotland is swept up in election fever, Andrea Graham, a 42-year-old housewife from Dundee, said she was not going to vote. "I wouldn't believe a single one of them," she said.

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