POLLS are funny things. One comes along with good news for the SNP, and just hours later a second comes along with bad news.
That’s what happened on Wednesday, after an Ipsos poll predicted the party could win 40 seats in a Westminster General Election and put support for Scottish independence at 53%.
But the celebrations were short lived, as a Redfield and Wilton poll, published five hours later, put Scottish Labour one point ahead of the SNP on Westminster voting intention.
It predicted that Keir Starmer’s party would win 34% of the vote, to Humza Yousaf’s party’s 33%.
The second result was definitely less favourable for Yousaf than the Ipsos one – but GB News got a little carried away.
In news that will come as a shock to everyone and not least the First Minister himself, GB News said that the Westminster General Election polling suggested Yousaf would “lose his own seat”.
A story penned by the outlet’s “digital political editor” was headlined: “SNP to be decimated in Scotland as devastating new poll suggests Humza Yousaf will LOSE seat.”
The story itself read: “The SNP is braced for an election wipeout, as a devastating new poll suggests the party will lose the majority of its MPs – including that currently held by Humza Yousaf himself.”
It added: “The worrying polling also suggests Humza Yousaf could lose his own seat.
“While it puts Labour just one point ahead of the SNP, when put into electoral calculus, it suggests a complete SNP wipeout in Glasgow – where Yousaf's Glasgow Pollok constituency is located.”
One thing the boffins at GB News haven’t noticed is that “Glasgow Pollok” is not a constituency that exists at Westminster. Even with the newly redrawn boundaries.
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Another thing they seem astonishingly unaware of is that Yousaf is an MSP in the Scottish Parliament, not an MP at Westminster.
So, obviously, there is no way he can lose his seat in a General Election.
Remember, this wasn’t a mistake made by some intern, but by the outlet’s digital political editor.
And the mistake has legs. A tweet from GB News sharing the erroneous story has more than 3000 likes and has been viewed 100,000 times.
As if we needed any more reason to doubt the quality of the output from the channel which gives us Neil Oliver ranting about fictitious “turbo cancer” and Jacob Rees-Mogg’s monologues on the problems facing Brexit Britain.
GB News has been approached for comment.
UPDATE:
GB News obviously saw the Jouker's email, as they've updated the story. However, it's still a nonsense.
The outlet's updated copy now claims that Yousaf could "lose his seat as an MSP at the next Holyrood election". Their evidence? A Westminster poll.
Remember, Yousaf's constituency doesn't even exist at Westminster ...
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