LABOUR politicians have warned of a serious problem with Ed Miliband's leadership following reports of a backbench plot to oust him.
Mr Miliband last night played down claims some of his MPs are calling for him to stand down, describing them as "frankly nonsense". The plot comes as a poll last night put Scottish support for the SNP at 45 per cent as the 2015 General Election nears.
The Panelbase survey of 1,000 adults, for the pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland, found only 28 per cent of people questioned would back Labour at the Westminster poll.
It follows an Ipsos Mori poll for STV last week that suggested Labour faces almost total wipeout north of the Border, damaging Mr Miliband's ambitions of becoming Prime Minister.
His approval ratings are lower than those of Liberal Democrats' leader Nick Clegg.
One Labour MP said morale was so low he was questioning whether it was even worth winning the next election, "just to spend years potentially stuck in a coalition with the LibDems".
Andrew Harrop, general secretary of the socialist Fabian Society, said Mr Miliband was "a hindrance" but there was no candidate to take over so close to the Westminster poll.
He said: "There is also the sense that spending three months with the party discussing its own leadership rather than getting on and fighting the election would be a colossal waste of time."
Labour peer Lord Soley said Mr Miliband's problem was serious and it would be "silly to say every Labour MP is relaxed about the present situation".
But he added: "You can deal with the present situation, [have] a ... Team Labour approach: sense of vision, sense of direction. Don't worry too much about the individual policies because they are in there, they are not bad. But they need to be part of that wider message and it needs to be done by Team Labour."
Damian McBride, Gordon Brown's former spin doctor, said Mr Miliband was failing to connect with ordinary people.
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