Senior party sources in Westminster have told The Times that Starmer is “very unpopular” with voters in Scotland and that his remaining at the helm of the party jeopardises any ambitions Labour has of taking on the SNP next year. 

According to The Times Scottish MPs are among the keenest in replacing Starmer in the new year in a bid to install a less damaging figurehead for the party. 

One insider reportedly told The Times: “The situation is untenable. The question for those of us with elections next May is ‘is there time for a change’, or do we wait to be slaughtered? 

“My preference is before May.”

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Meanwhile, another claimed that the SNP are “badly disliked” and “eminently beatable”, despite John Swinney’s party comfortably leading Labour in recent polling. 

The source added: “If we’re not able to mount a proper attack on them, that’s a really worrying sign. 

“My concern is not that Anas can’t do that. It’s Keir that’s very unpopular on the doorstep.”

Meanwhile, a third expressed their concern of remaining “stuck in third” as polling also has the party trailing behind the likes of the Greens and the LibDems and slumping to fourth. 

They said: “We have everything to gain and little to lose by getting rid of Keir. With elections round the corner, we should be in contention for first place in the polls.

“Instead we’re at risk of finishing in a far behind second, or staying stuck in third place.”

Earlier this month, Scottish Labour’s woes were extended even further after a YouGov poll revealed the party had slipped to fourth ahead of next May’s Holyrood election. 

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Polling showed that Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour was behind the SNP (37%), the Greens (27%), and the LibDems (26%) and was sitting at just 23%, according to research by YouGov.

Labour were only slightly ahead of Farage’s Reform UK, whom 21% out of the 1017 people questioned, said they would be thinking about voting for.

The poll also found that less than half of Scots who backed Labour in last year’s General Election would vote for them again.

The research found that 48% of those who voted for Starmer’s party last July would be willing to vote Labour again in a future election – with more than a third (35%) saying they are considering voting for the LibDems, while more than a quarter (28%) could vote SNP.

Meanwhile, 87% of those who voted for John Swinney’s SNP in the 2024 Westminster election said they would consider backing them again – although 45% are also open to voting Green.