"Vote SNP. Get The Tories" - so the Labour Party tells us every single day of this general election campaign.

Recent UK election results reveal a different picture.

In February 1974, the SNP more than doubled its Scottish vote compared to 1970 - from 307,000 to over 633,000. The outcome? A Labour government.

In October of the same year, the SNP's Scottish vote increased further to almost 840,000. The outcome? Another Labour government with a bigger lead over the Tory opposition.

"Vote SNP. Get Labour?"

In contrast, in 1979, the SNP vote collapsed to barely 500,000. Labour's support that year in Scotland went up from a million votes to over to 1,200,000. The outcome? The start of Thatcherism and eighteen years of Tory rule.

"Vote Labour. Get The Tories?"

Throughout the Thatcher-Major years, Labour voters stayed loyal. Over 1.25 million Scots voted Labour in 1997. Their reward? Tony Blair.

"Vote Labour. Get New Labour?"

Of course, all of this is over-simplified, Punch-and-Judy politics. But I'm only a wee scribbler. I'm not the one designing Labour posters or masterminding its general election strategies.

What we can definitely conclude though is that Labour's current electoral pitch just doesn't add up. That's especially disappointing since the Scottish Labour Party is officially an Accounting Unit.

As well as the daily scare stories about the SNP, New Labour has been burnishing its image north of the border. "Accounting Unit" is not part of the new image.

"Scottish Labour" is the brand wheeze of Jim Murphy and his flat white advertising advisers. Patriotic through and through, we're told, with a just a hint of old time socialism. A new New Labour Party for Scotland.

This has raised some speculation about how Labour's Scottish candidates will be described on the ballot paper. In previous UK elections, they've been described as standing for the "Labour Party" - like all that party's candidates elsewhere in the UK. In Scottish elections too, that was the name on the ballot paper - "The Labour Party".

Unfortunately for Labour, in post-referendum Scotland, this name conjures up images of "Better Together Labour", the Labour Party which worked hand in hand with its pro-UK Tory allies.

To be fair to Murphy, he tried hard to distance himself and his crate from this unholy coalition. How he'd dearly love to do the same on the ballot paper. "Scottish Labour" is a much less toxic descriptor than "The Labour Party"; "Scottish" a much more positive adjective than "New", "One Nation" or "Better Together".

You'd think Labour would be wary of yet another re-brand. Concerns which frequently change their names are usually of the dodgy variety. It would be more honest for Jim Murphy to admit that his operation in Scotland is an integral part of the British Labour Party. The austerity-supporting, Trident-supporting, tuition fees-supporting, privatisation-supporting Labour Party.

Sceptical of such a principled approach, independence supporters have been probing the possibility of a Labour name change on Scottish ballot papers.

One thing has been made certain. As far as the Electoral Commission is concerned, there is no electoral entity as "Scottish Labour". In response to one enquiry, the Commission states: "The Scottish Labour Party…are not separately registered with us. The Labour Party is registered for GB as a whole."

However, the Electoral Commission went on to say: "An accounting unit, Scottish Labour Party for example, may appear as a description of the registered party on the ballot paper… A party may present themselves under an accounting unit if they choose."

This appears to give the green light for "Scottish Labour" to appear on Scottish ballot papers. But, officially, "Scottish Labour" is not a registered political party. It is only an "Accounting Unit" of the British Labour Party.

So, formally, there is little difference between "Scottish Labour" and "Greater London Labour" or "East Midlands Labour". They are all regional departments of the British Labour Party.

Johann Lamont got her red rose in a twist complaining about being treated as the manager of London Labour's Scottish branch office. I wonder why? That's precisely what "Scottish Labour" is - a branch office.

Or, in officialese, an Accounting Unit. An Accounting Unit which isn't very good with numbers.