Fewer than one in five over 60s plan to vote Scottish Labour, says poll

Fewer than one in five over 60s plan to vote Scottish Labour in the Scottish Parliament election, according to a new Survation poll.

The Survation poll, published in the Sunday Post, found that 19 per cent of over 60s plan to vote Scottish Labour in the constituency vote, with 18 per cent supporting it in the regional list vote.

Overall 43 per cent of over 60s said they would vote SNP in the constituency vote, with 28 per cent backing the Scottish Conservatives and six per cent backing the Liberal Democrats.

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The regional vote put the SNP on 38 per cent, the Tories 27 per cent, the Lib Dems seven per cent, Greens on five per cent, and Ukip on four per cent support.

Survation also asked 1,000 people if they thought Labour would ever return to power at Holyrood, with 45 per cent answering no, 25 per cent saying yes, and 30 per cent saying they were not sure. Just eight per cent said Scottish Labour will return to power at this year’s election.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “This election is all about which party will use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to stop the cuts and invest in our public services.”

Adding: “Faced with a choice between using the powers of the Parliament to protect the public services that pensioners rely on or carrying on with the SNP's cuts, Labour will use the powers."

John Swinney said the results were “encouraging”.

He said: “On key public services this poll shows that older people back the SNP’s record of delivery in government and recognise that the SNP is the only party standing up for Scotland's pensioners.”