THE leader of Scottish Labour has claimed that her party is "fighting fit" and that Jeremy Corbyn is helping to win back voters from the SNP.
Kezia Dugdale, who will this week travel to London to brief the UK shadow cabinet on May's Holyrood vote, denied she would be preparing them for disaster and insisted she was optimistic despite a new poll putting the Conservatives within touching distance of Labour.
With 100 days of campaigning to go until the Holyrood elections, a Panelbase poll put Ruth Davidson's Tories on 17 per cent in both the constituency and regional list votes.
Meanwhile, support for Labour has fallen to 21 per cent in the constituency section and 19 per cent on the list.
Labour's candidate for First Minister said Mr Corbyn had been to Scotland several times and, asked whether he was helping win voters back from the SNP, replied: "Yes, I believe he is and together with Jeremy I'm looking forward to bringing more people home to the Labour Party in Scotland because we have a progressive platform of policies.
"We're talking about the issues that affect everybody's daily lives, from schooling to housing to the health service."
According to the new poll, the SNP remains on course to claim a convincing majority, with half of voters preparing to back Nicola Sturgeon's party with their first vote and support at 48 per cent on the list.
Today, the Scottish Conservatives will launch a new paper on taxation with Willie Rennie, whose Liberal Democrats were predicted to achieve six per cent of the constituency vote and seven per cent on the list, to meet students and staff at Fife College and say Scotland must move on from the referendum by healing divisions the vote caused.
Ms Dugdale will visit a nursery today to highlight her plan to invest in future generations through a Fair Start Fund.
SNP Business Convener Derek Mackay welcomed what he described as "another very encouraging poll" for his party. He added: "While the opposition parties resort to smears and cheap political attacks to cover up for the fact that they are bereft of any credible ideas – the SNP will continue to get on with the job of delivering for Scotland in government.
Meanwhile, deputy leader John Swinney added: "We will spend the next 100 days leading an ambitious, national debate about how to keep Scotland moving forward through progressive policies.
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