THE SNP says it will win seats back from Labour in next month’s General Election, including the one it lost in Glasgow in 2017.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said support for Labour was “falling off like snow off a dyke” as he predicted his party would do a “lot better” than it did in 2017, when 35 SNP MPs were elected.

Mr Yousaf said: “I’m very confident we are going to do a lot better.”
Speaking as he campaigned in Glasgow North East, which Labour’s Paul Sweeney won in 2017, Mr Yousaf said the SNP is “quite confident” of seizing the seat on December 12, which would give the party all seven Commons constituencies in the city.

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Mr Sweeney, who is defending a majority of 242, said he is pleased with the response from voters and said the party’s plan to extend broadband coverage by taking over BT Openreach was gaining interest.

Mr Sweeney hit back at his opponents.

He said: “When Labour won this seat in 2017 we did so against the odds. We don’t take this seat for granted but despite the 2017 result the SNP do.

“Mr Yousaf’s bluster simply does not correspond to the response we are getting in the community. Old Labour voters, SNP voters, non-voters, all are flocking to Labour."

Polling expert Sir John Curtice suggested the Scottish Conservatives could lose seats to the SNP given the opinion polls.

He said he “would be surprised” if the Conservatives do not lose some of their 13 seats.

Mr Curtice said: “There is a slight question mark over the Conservatives. Recent polls still had them down about seven points in Scotland, but given they have been making some ground across the UK as a whole and there’s something of a Brexit Party vote to squeeze in Scotland, it would be surprising if the Conservatives were not at risk of losing some of their seats.”

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He also said about 30% of Labour voters were in favour of independence and that the party could also get votes form pro-Union voters.

Mr Curtice added: “That said, the Labour Party doesn’t look like it’s going to have enough voters in either camp to look like it’s going to be a credible challenger.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens were targeting the student vote at Strathclyde University yesterday, with co-leader Patrick Harvie playing pool with students. 

Mr Harvie: “Young people’s voices are being ignored in this election, which is unforgivable.
“Brexit promises to erode student opportunities and funding and take away their freedoms to study across Europe. It is clear students want to put a stop to Brexit and secure a long-term future for further education and academic research.”