The Scotsman newspaper reports that Nick Clegg’s woes show no sign of ending any time soon. The paper has published a YouGov poll that puts the Green Party ahead of the Lib Dems in Scotland for the first time. The poll comes ahead of the 2011 Scottish Parliament general election on 5 May.
The survey gave the Scottish Greens 6% (up 2% compared to 2007) while the Lib Dems are on 5%.Their standing is down by a whopping 5.3%. The poll raises the possibility of double defeat for Clegg who could find himself losing the alternative vote referendum and see his party slide north of the border.
The SNP is just one point ahead of Labour in the constituency vote with 40%, though Labour is ahead of the nationalists on the list by 39% to 32%.
“Translated into seats, the findings would give Labour 57 and the SNP 48 with 13 Tories, six Greens and five Lib Dems. Green leader Patrick Harvie said the Lib Dems’ dramatic fall was due to their coalition with the Tories at Westminster”, the Scotsman reports.
Ironically, the Greens were excluded from last night’s TV debate between the other four party leaders. The party has asked to be included in the next debate, according to STV.
The Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, said: “The SNP made a massive fuss about being excluded from the Westminster TV debates, so presumably they agree that all the Holyrood parties should be included in the TV debates. We supported their position in 2010: it’s time to find out if they support ours in 2011. And the Lib Dems: it would surely be both liberal and democratic to let the people decide.”