NICOLA AND JOHN TRUSTED TO GET THE BEST DEAL FOR SCOTLAND

So, along with the news that Scots would like to see the SNP hold the balance of power in the London parliament in the hopes that they will get the best possible deal for Scotland, we can also welcome polling which shows that voters trust Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney to stand up for Scotland.

A Panelbase poll commissioned by the SNP found that 59 per cent of those asked trusted Nicola Sturgeon – compared to just 27 per cent who said they did not. This gives an overall positive rating of +32 points, with positive ratings among men, women, and people of all ages and social groups.

Nicola also has a positive rating among those who voted No in the referendum, with 43 per cent saying they trust her.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney also had very good ratings, with 42 per cent saying they trusted him compared to 28 per cent who did not – a positive overall rating of +14 points.

In contrast, new Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy had a positive overall rating of just +2 points. While 39 per cent said they trusted him, 37 per cent said they did not. In news that will not surprise some, Mr Murphy showed more Tory voters trusting him than Labour voters. 

Strangely, Patrick Harvie had a bad rating of -6 points. Ruth Davidson was at -25 points and Willie Rennie at -31 points.

Looking at the London politicians, Labour leader Ed Miliband’s ratings were negative (-45 points overall with an horrific 63 per cent saying they did not trust him).  David Cameron was also unpopular, with an overall rating of -52 per cent (not surprising for a Tory PM in Scotland), while more worrying for the Liberals, Nick Clegg was the least trusted of all with -64 points overall. 74 per cent say they do not trust him and only 10 per cent say they do. What a disaster for him and the Liberals going into the next London election.

Nicola Sturgeon showed positive ratings of +14 among people who voted Labour in 2011, while poor old Ed Miliband had negative ratings of -3 among Labour voters.

Of course people will insist that a poll commissioned by the SNP will be biased, but I’m not sure how biased you can make a question which simply asks if you trust someone to stand up for Scotland’s interests.

The sample size was 1018 and the polling was conducted by Panelbase between 18 and 23 December.

Maybe Mr Kelly will do a more learned analysis of the figures...
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WELL DOH...HA

I’ve just read this from Humza Yousaf… “Scottish Government is being attacked by Scottish Labour for staying in a hotel in Doha, not realising Gordon Brown was staying in exact same hotel for the same conference - hypocrisy knows no bounds!”

Come on, Labour. Get your act together.