HOLYROOD OR BUST

Defeat in Scottish election next May will be 'final nail in the coffin' for the PM after by-election disaster in Wales as senior party figures say he'll get the boot

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

SENIOR Scottish Labour figures believe Keir Starmer will quit as Prime Minister if the SNP wins the Holyrood election.

The MSPs and MPs spoke out in the wake of Labour's humiliating defeat in the Caerphilly by-election in Wales.

Plaid Cymru stormed to victory in the once-safe Labour seat, with Reform coming second on 36 per cent and Starmer's party a distant third on 11 per cent.

With the Holyrood election months away, Scottish Labour is 17 points behind the SNP and in a battle for second place with Nigel Farage's party.

Scottish Labour sources believe Starmer’s struggling Government is to blame and claim the PM will pay a price in May if Holyrood slips away.

One insider said: “I think he will be gone quickly. His poll ratings are so poor that a defeat in Scotland would be the final nail in his coffin.”

A second parliamentarian said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar needed to put distance between himself and the PM: “Starmer is on borrowed time and Sarwar needs to boldly emerge as his own man, stamp his authority and show his party as a different brand.