Pollster in Brexit warning for Keir Starmer in Scotland

Labour leader Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. - Credit: PA

A pollster has warned that Keir Starmer’s vote in support of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is likely to make the fight in Scotland even more difficult.

Sir John Curtice, a leading pollster and professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the SNP’s opposition to the Brexit deal could help the SNP win a majority at Holyrood in the next year’s Scottish elections.

He told The National that it was a “misjudgement” when it comes to Scotland that the Labour leader was whipping his MPs to support the agreement.

“The fact that the SNP are going to vote against the deal and Labour are going to vote for it is probably going to help the SNP to hang on to its remain support,” he said.

“I think that is probably a misjudgement by Labour at least amongst its support north of the Border – not that they have many remain voters north of the Border anyway.

“They have lost that constituency and at the end of the day if the SNP are going to be denied a majority then Labour has to recover. I think [Keir] Starmer’s decision to vote for the deal is not going to make Labour’s life any easier north of the Border.”

But in more positive news for Starmer, polling has found a majority of voters want MPs to back the deal – including voters in Scotland – rather than voting against and risking a no-deal Brexit.