Scottish Labour has slumped to fifth place among older voters in the wake of the UK Government’s Winter Fuel Payment cuts. A new poll has found Anas Sarwar’s party on 11% among pensioners and trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform.
Labour in Scotland romped to success at the general election after years in the political doldrums. But a new Survation poll found them trailing the SNP in Holyrood voting intentions, with the Nationalists projected to win 53 seats and Labour 24.
Drilling down into figures reveals huge disparities in support for Labour by age. On the constituency vote, Labour polled 30% in relation to 44-54 year olds, 21% for the 55-64 group and 15% for the 65+ bracket.
On the regional lists, Labour fell from 27% to 11% across the same age cohorts. Labour is in fifth place among this older tier of voters, behind the SNP, Tories, Reform and the Lib Dems.
Scottish Labour sources blame the poor polling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to strip millions of pensioners of their WFP. They also believe the Government denying the so-called WASPI women compensation payments has harmed Labour with older voters.
Mark Diffley, the founder of the Diffley Partnership polling analysis group, told the Times: “This poll represents bad news for Labour, with support for the Holyrood election falling from 31 per cent in September with the same pollster to 22 per cent now. Of particular interest over that period is the dramatic decline in support for the party among older voters, aged 65 and over, among whom support has halved from 30 per cent in September to just 15 per cent now.
“This is a more significant drop in support for Labour than in any other age group and may reflect some of the unpopular decisions made by the UK party around issues such as the cutting of the winter fuel allowance.”
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