KEIR Starmer is planning to travel to Scotland towards the end of this week as his party prepares to step up its campaign to win power.

The Labour leader is due to meet the Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar and the shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray with the three politicians expecting to visit the Tayside area on Friday.

A series of opinion polls in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Liz Truss's disastrous mini budget on September 23 gave Labour a significant lead over the Conservatives across the UK, which if replicated on polling day, would give Mr Starmer's party a hefty Commons majority.

The latest poll, published yesterday, showed that while Labour is still well ahead, its lead over the Tories has narrowed since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister last Tuesday.

Labour currently has a 44 per cent share of the vote, down six points since last week, according to an Opinium poll for the Observer.

It put the Tories are on 28 per cent, up five points since last week. However, Mr Sunak starts life in No 10 with a net positive approval rating. Some 31 per cent approve of the job he is doing, with 23 per cent disapproving – giving him a +8 rating overall.

It comes days after Mr Starmer warned the shadow cabinet that their huge poll leads had been an “enjoyable story” but would close with Truss being removed.

His team is now drawing up plans to ensure that the Tories continue to carry responsibility for the economic turmoil that resulted in higher mortgages and dire public finances.

Mr Starmer told the shadow cabinet last week that MR Sunak was likely to enjoy a “double bounce: the usual new PM bounce – plus the one Liz Truss managed to bungle”. He added: “That’s why we’ve said all along: no complacency, no caution, no letting up.”

But polls after the mini budget pointed to Labour in Scotland still needing to do considerable work to rebuild the support it lost after the independence referendum in 2014 when former voters deserted the party for the SNP .

Research by groups in the party suggest some SNP are ready to switch back if they believe it would help oust the Conservatives from power.

A Labour source told The Herald last night: “The polls have shown that Labour is able to kick the Tories out of Downing Street, and that we are gaining strength by the day in Scotland.

“I know that Keir is absolutely committed to Scotland, and to winning back seats north of the border so that he can be the Prime Minister of the entire United Kingdom.”

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Show yesterday, Mr Sarwar was asked how his party could win back support from former voters who had moved to the SNP.

"I think directly it's change," he said. "The single biggest challenge we've had in the last 12 years if we are honest with ourselves is people in Scotland have not believed Labour could win across the UK.

"And they have believed we are stuck with a rotten, out of touch, economically illiterate and morally bankrupt Conservative party. And in that frame the escape route they identified as independence.

"Now I don't support independence, I don't support a referendum but I do accept anger and frustration with this horrific UK Government."

He added: "I recognise people's anger. What I'm saying to people is. We might say to people is: we might disagree on the final destination... but what we can all agree on is we need to get rid of this Tory government."

Research published by YouGov in early October showed Scottish Labour would win just seven seats north of the Border following a Scottish Tory wipeout while the SNP would remain dominant with support at 45 per cent and on course to win 49 out of the country's 59 seats.

Labour strategists for the most part have previously concentrated on winning over disillusioned Tory voters, but key figures now believe this approach can only have limited success and the party needs to improve its appeal to SNP supporters if wants to gain ground substantially.

Mr Murray, who represents Edinburgh South, is Labour's only MP north of the Border but former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has suggested the party could take up to 12 seats in the general election won by the SNP in the 2019.

In recent weeks the SNP have stepped up their attacks on Labour, particularly in relation to the party's current support for Brexit. Scotland voted by 62 per cent to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum.

Labour figures believe these attacks by the SNP indicate nervousness that some of its supporters may be ready to move back to Labour amid an ongoing stalemate on independence.

Ms Dugdale said earlier this month: "As things stand, despite being 20 per cent ahead in the UK polls, I struggle to see Labour winning a seat north of Dunfermline.

"I do see Labour winning 10 to 12 seats in areas with high No votes and a weakening Conservative base: parts of Fife, Lanarkshire and East Lothian perhaps."