A new poll suggests Scottish Labour is failing to make significant progress ahead of the general election.

An ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper puts support for the SNP at 43%, with Labour trailing on 27%.

A further 14% of people backed the Conservatives, 6% support the Lib Dems while Ukip has the backing of 7% of those polled.

Compared with the firm's last poll for the Guardian in December, support for the SNP remains unchanged while Labour has advanced by just one percentage point, up from 26%.

The poll also measured the popularity of senior politicians in Scotland and found that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has a net positive rating of +21 - the difference between the proportion who say she will be good for Scotland, and bad for Scotland - while Alex Salmond has a rating of +12.

Labour's Jim Murphy holds a net negative rating of -2, David Cameron has a rating of -33 while Ed Miliband's rating is -39.

ICM quizzed 1,002 people between March 13 and 19.

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: "This latest poll is another welcome indication of the strong backing for the SNP we are seeing in communities across Scotland.

"The poll also shows very strong and positive ratings for Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond - with negative ratings for Jim Murphy.

"Extraordinarily, Ed Miliband as a Labour leader has consistently worse ratings in Scotland than even a Tory prime minister.

"Labour are continuing to pay the price for working hand in glove with the Tories during the referendum and lining up with them at Westminster to vote for more cuts.

"We take nothing for granted and will work extremely hard to win people's trust on May 7, so that we can deliver jobs and growth in place of Westminster cuts."