Lord Ashcroft poll: SNP tipped to take Gordon Brown’s seat from Labour

The SNP are set to win Gordon Brown’s current Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in May’s General Election, according to a shock new poll.

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft surveyed eight Scottish constituencies, with a massive swing recorded towards the nationalists.

As well as picking up the Fife seat, it is predicted the SNP would take the Liberal Democrat-held Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, former Liberal leader Charles Kennedy’s seat of Ross, Skye and Lochaber, the retiring Alistair Darling’s Edinburgh South West constituency and would be within one percentage point of defeating Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy in East Renfrewshire.

However, the most surprising snapshot was in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, where former Prime Minister Mr Brown recorded a 23,009 majority in 2010.

According to the Ashcroft poll of 1,000 people locally, there has been a 28.5% swing towards the SNP in the past five years which would see Labour candidate Kenny Selbie lose out to the SNP’s Roger Mullin if replicated on May 7.

For full reaction and analysis of Lord Ashcroft’s polling, see Thursday’s Courier.