A NEW poll which suggests Inverclyde could swing to Labour if a snap election was to be held has been dismissed by Inverclyde’s MP.

SNP politician Ronnie Cowan today told the Telegraph that it would be ‘remiss’ of him to be diverted from his job by ‘speculation’, after a new model from YouGov predicted he would lose his seat.

The results of YouGov’s MRP modelling, published earlier this week, suggested that a sudden general election would see Mr Cowan’s share of the local vote drop from the 48.4 per cent he attracted at the last election to 37 per cent.

But Westminster representative Mr Cowan, who surged to office in 2015 with more than half of the local vote share, insists that the only poll that mattered was election day.

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He said: “The YouGov poll is not as encouraging as the Ipsos Mori Poll, which gives the SNP 41 percent of the vote.

“But whichever one you want to believe in, the fact remains the same, the only poll that matters is the one on any given election day. 

“And at a local level the current constituency boundary will have changed.

“That’s not reflected in any of the polls.

“We don’t know when the next general election is going to be, it could be as late as January 2025.

“It would be remiss of me to be diverted from doing my job by speculation and in some cases wishful thinking.

“I have served Inverclyde for eight years and every day I remind myself that I was elected on an SNP ticket and a mandate to pursue Scotland’s independence but the job of an MP is to represent all of their constituents and I have never wavered from doing that and I shall continue to do that every day that they ask me to.

“I shall remain focused on supporting the people of Inverclyde through this Conservative and Unionist engineered cost of living crisis, firm in the belief the best people to run Scotland for Scotland are the people of Scotland and that abdicating that responsibility and those powers to Westminster is the wrong strategy.

“Whether a General Election produces a Labour or Tory UK Government, and it’s hard to tell the difference between them these days, we need a strong representation that will put Scotland first, every single time and only the SNP can do that.”

According to the model, which predicted that the SNP’s national seat number could fall to just 27, Labour’s vote share in the district could rise to 40 per cent.

Gourock councillor Martin McCluskey, who was recently selected as the local Labour party’s general election candidate, welcomed the poll, but echoed his rival’s words about election day.

The local elected member, who stood against Mr Cowan in both 2017 and 2019, said the new survey showed people were fed up of the SNP and the Conservatives.

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He said: “The only poll that matters is the one on general election day.

“This poll is encouraging and shows that people are increasingly tired of the SNP and the Tories and are looking for a change.

“We have a chance to get rid of the Tories and deliver a Labour government that can make a real difference to people across Inverclyde.

“We will deliver a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to bring down people’s energy bills, give working people more rights at work including ensuring wages reflect the cost of living and invest billions in green energy to bring new, well-paid jobs to Inverclyde.

“The SNP have been in government for over thirteen years and by the time of the next election Ronnie Cowan will have been Inverclyde’s MP for almost a decade.

“What’s clear from our campaigning is that people are looking for a change and for politicians they can trust, and they don’t think the SNP can provide that anymore.”

Mr McCluskey has received the backing of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who said the Gourock representative was the ‘only choice for change in Inverclyde’ at the next general election.

He added: “This country is crying out for change because we have a morally bankrupt and economically illiterate Tory government and we have a dysfunctional and incompetent SNP government.

“Next year, people in Inverclyde will have a chance to vote for a Scottish Labour MP who will put the cost of living crisis, jobs and the NHS at the top of their agenda.

“An MP who won’t just replace the Tories – but can be part of a UK Labour Government that will deliver for people in Inverclyde.”