Scottish Labour faces a "cataclysmic" defeat in next month's local elections, according to a leading polling expert.

Robert Hayward said that the results could show the party has not recovered since 2015, where it was almost wiped out north of the Border at the general election.

He also predicted that across the UK Labour would lose up to 125 council seats on May 4, adding to leader Jeremy Corbyn’s woes.

An ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper suggests that across the UK Labour has hit its lowest level of support since 2015, down one point on a fortnight ago, to 25 per cent.

Although the Conservatives are down two percentage points at 43 per cent they are still streets ahead of the official opposition.

Veteran socialist Mr Corbyn also came under fire from former Labour leader Tony Blair, who said the party was "failing" voters by not providing a "competitive" opposition.

Figures leaked to the Herald in January show that Scottish Labour is braced for a near wipe-out in its heartlands next month.

One Labour MSP said that the party had calculated that it would receive just 15 per cent of the vote, with the Tories securing 25 per cent and the SNP 45 per cent.

The party is set to lose control of Glasgow to the SNP and could slip from first to third in Edinburgh, behind the Conservatives.

Lord Hayward, a Tory peer, said that overall the results would be a "reflection of where the Labour party actually is - it isn't appealing to its old core of working class voters in the Midlands, the north and also Scotland."

He added that the result in Scotland risked being "cataclysmic” for Labour.

Losses on the scale predicted would be “confirmation that two years on from the general election (the party).. is the same position.”

He predicted that across Scotland, England and Wales, Labour would lose upwards of 125 seats, Ukip would lose 80-90, while both the Tories and the Lib Dem would gain around 100.

The SNP would also increase, but by much smaller numbers, because of the surge in support the party has experienced in previous years.

At the weekend a similar analysis from academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher predicted that Labour would lose 50 seats in England, while the Tories would gain 50 and the Liberal Democrats would gain 100 while Ukip would lose 100.

Launching his local election campaign today, Mr Corbyn will say a speech in Newark, Nottinghamshire, that Labour is "standing up" for ordinary voters.

Willie Rennie will today kick-start the Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign in Musselburgh claiming that his party will stand up for local issues rather than be cheerleaders for independence.

He will say: "This year people across Scotland will face a simple choice. Do they want to see another cheerleader for independence or do they want a true local champion who will put their community first? "