Few Scots would now consider voting Labour in the upcoming Holyrood elections as Anas Sarwar’s hopes of becoming First Minister continue to fade, but their predicament is all of their own making, writes Herald columnist Mark McGeoghegan.

Is the 2026 Holyrood election result already a forgone conclusion? Scottish Labour certainly hope not and would like to think that, as the election approaches and the electorate’s focus turns from Westminster to Holyrood, dissatisfaction with the Scottish Government will see Scottish voters abandon the SNP and shift back to Labour to kick out the sitting government.

We’ve seen something similar happen in the past. In January 2011, Labour were sitting pretty in the polls, on 49% of the constituency vote. In May, the SNP won an overall majority. Significant shifts can and do happen, but for them to happen, voters need to be open to changing their minds in the first place, and it now appears that most Scots are not.

A YouGov poll released earlier this week found that just 23% of Scots would consider voting for Labour in the upcoming elections. 77% would not. In fact, more than half of Scots who voted for Labour in last July’s General Election would not consider voting for them at Holyrood. More Scots would consider voting for the Greens or the Liberal Democrats than would consider Labour.

In contrast, 37% of Scots would consider voting for the SNP. That’s not great, as it........

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