LABOUR types I talk to are becoming increasingly troubled by numbers.

Sure, projections of Westminster wipe-outs, best case scenarios and maths around coalition deals are the anoraks' national sport just now.

But for those au fait with what's under the bonnet of Scottish Labour, its the impact on the balance sheet from any loss of MPs and knock on to the party machine and capacity for the election fights over the following two years causing the jitters.

The publicly-funded staff costs for Labour's 40 Scottish MPs was estimated recently to be around £4.75million. That's an army of professional researchers, organisers, and office staff whose job description will include door-knocking, leafleting and canvassing as and when.

Even Labour's hoped-for return of 20 MPs will see that figure drop by almost £2.5million.

Should Labour lose nationally and suffers particularly badly in Scotland, the Short Money, cash paid to Westminster's opposition (the SNP's six MPs pick up £150,000), will drop too, with funding to run the Scottish operation inevitably cut.

The task of winning in 2016 becomes much harder. There is no scenario where Labour will do better in May than in 2010 and the impact on financial and personnel resources means local branches, with MPs often at the core, may be in a state of some distress.

Furthermore, Jim Murphy has assembled a high-profile team around him. All with the title 'director' of something-or-other, John McTernan, Blair McDougall, Susan Dalgety and David Whitton won't come cheap. 'Team Jim' could be very short-lived indeed. (I'm deliberately avoiding the current leader's own prospects but working class areas in his constituency like Barrhead are already desperately struggling for feet on the ground as it is.)

Of course the odd sugar daddy may still donate to Labour to keep its head above water but where's the return from propping up a party machine wandering in the wilderness for at least five years?

Finances though are not the only rub. Party pals looking for positives point to the removal of the most conservative forces in Labour's internal debates in the event of an electoral kicking, with a new meaningful focus on Holyrood from a generation who have grown up politically with devolution.

Others fear the impact of out-of-work MPs searching for employment on Labour's esprit de corps with the Scottish Parliament poll on the horizon, fresh blood stymied by party elders with a sense of entitlement.

One said: "There's MPs I'd rather see out cleaning windows after May 8 than knocking on Jim Murphy's door looking an in."

In 2011 Labour lost several big hitters, most notably Andy Kerr, whose absence from the opposition benches has been acutely felt.

There is every chance that, if unseated, Labour talent like Tom Greatrex, Gregg McClymont, Ian Murray or Douglas Alexander take their capabilities off to the real world and find, like Kerr, the rewards are good.

Labour is in unchartered waters. Ground zero may offer a new beginning but for many, starkly and simply, their number is up.