This is what Scottish politics could look like in four months

Labour faces a virtual general election wipeout in Scotland at the hands of the SNP with Nicola Sturgeon’s party piling up more than half the vote, according to a new poll.

Ipsos Mori put the Nationalists on 52 per cent in Westminster voting intentions, unchanged from its previous survey for STV in October. Labour has only edged up by one point to 24 per cent, suggesting that so far its new leader, Jim Murphy, has made little impression on voters.

A result on that scale at the election would give the SNP a projected 55 of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster. Labour would be reduced from 41 seats to just four, clinging on only in Glasgow North East; Glasgow South West; Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath; and Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill.

The poll came as first minister Nicola Sturgeon said SNP MPs were ready to vote on English-only laws after the general election. The SNP’s growing political strength – and its potential influence in a hung parliament – was underlined as David Cameron prepared to announce an extra devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament.

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