Labour targeting seats of Coalition ministers

UK Political Correspondent

Wednesday 9 January 2013

LABOUR has outlined its ambition to unseat two Coalition ministers in Scotland at the next General Election.

Custom byline text:

Kate Devlin UK Political Correspondent

Constituencies held by Conservative Scotland Office minister David Mundell and Liberal Democrat Business minister Jo Swinson appear on a 100-strong list of the party's 2015 target seats.

But the five Scottish seats named feature some notable omissions.

These include the Western Isles, held by the party for almost two decades before it was taken by the SNP in 2005.Other LibDems targeted include Alan Reid, MP for Argyll and Bute, and Mike Crockart, the Edinburgh West MP.Also on the list is the Dundee East seat held by the SNP's Stewart Hosie. Tom Watson, the party's General Election chief, said the party was confident it would secure at least a 60-seat majority in 2015. Mr Watson insisted winning by such a margin was a realistic goal. The Shadow Cabinet has approved his strategy to concentrate on the 106 key marginal constituencies.The vast majority of seats on the list, four out of five, are held by Tories.Mr Watson said the party had "done a lot of research" based on recent election results and demographic changes to come up with the list. Apart from a handful, all are marginal seats.UK-wide, one notable omission from the target list is Bradford West, where Respect's George Galloway scored a by-election victory over Labour last April.Meanwhile, David Cameron yesterday told Conservative MPs they have everything to play for in the General Election.Mr Cameron's director of strategy Andrew Cooper told MPs privately that Labour's lead in the polls is well short of what they would need to secure victory in 2015, and said underlying statistics suggest that support for Ed Miliband's party is "soft".

Contextual targeting label:

Local government

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Labour targeting seats of Coalition ministers

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED