text: The rampant Scottish National Party has extended its huge lead over Labour, polling showed last night. Detailed constituency surveys suggest Labour faces an unprecedented wipeout. Jim Murphy, its Scottish leader, and Douglas Alexander, its chief election strategist, are among those on course to lose their seats. Jim Murphy (left), Labour's Scottish leader, and Douglas Alexander (right), the party's chief election strategist could lose their seats . The nationalists are also on course to wipe out the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, with even Charles Kennedy, their popular former leader, now 15 points behind in his Highlands constituency. The survey of eight constituencies, by Lord Ashcroft, revealed swings to the SNP on a scale which would be unprecedented in modern European politics. The survey suggests Labour could lose all 41 seats it won in 2010. Tactical anti-SNP voting by supporters of other parties could save some. There are 59 seats in Scotland. Mr Murphy is nine points behind in his East Renfrewshire seat with the SNP buoyed by leader Nicola Sturgeon’s strong performance in two TV debates. That means there has been a 26.5 per cent swing away from Labour since 2010. Labour conceded that ‘no gloss’ could be put on the polls and warned that if the findings become reality then ‘David Cameron will walk back into Downing Street again’. Conor Pope, of party supporters’ website LabourList, said: ‘If previous Ashcroft constituency polling in Scotland could be described as an earthquake, the poll the Tory peer had dropped this afternoon will require an entirely different word. A cataclysm perhaps. ‘If this is an earthquake it’s certainly not the kind that rattles the windows in the middle of the night, it’s the sort that razes whole cities. ‘If Lord Ashcroft’s polling is correct, there’s a risk that Jim Murphy could lose his seat to the SNP. At the last poll he had a slender one point lead over the SNP, that has now turned in a matter of weeks into a nine-point lead for the SNP. That’s well outside the margin of error. The rampant Scottish National Party, led by Nicola Sturgeon (pictured), has extended its lead over Labour . ‘What was once a Labour/Tory marginal could well fall to the forces of separatism. Such a result would be a painful – almost existential – blow to a Scottish Labour Party that is already battered and bruised.’ Yesterday, Mr Murphy launched a desperate attempt to regain support by abandoning his Blairite views in a bid to win over left-wing voters. Mr Murphy unveiled Labour’s Scottish election manifesto in Glasgow as he declared ‘the party of John Smith and the party of Donald Dewar is back in business’. Overlooking the Tony Blair ‘New Labour’ era, during which he served as a minister, he allowed retiring Labour MP David Hamilton to whip the crowd into a frenzy by attacking Margaret Thatcher and laying into the SNP with the battle cry: ‘They are nationalists, we are socialists.’ Mr Murphy himself vowed to introduce socialist-style ‘redistributive’ policies, as he accused the SNP of stealing Labour’s clothes.
target: Polling shows Scottish National Party has extended its lead over Labour .
  Constituency surveys suggest Labour party faces unprecedented wipeout .
  Jim Murphy, its Scottish leader, among those on course to lose their seats .