Identifiably encouraging

David Maddox had a blog post on the Steamie earlier about party identification in Scotland, suggesting it was good news for Labour that they still led the SNP by 32% to 'just' 25% on this measure. His argument is based on the fact that this a healthier position than Labour currently enjoys on Holyrood voting intention. Although Maddox has a reputation for being an occasionally over-zealous Nat-basher, I don't think he was necessarily in propaganda mode here. However, given that the party identification figures don't change according to which tier of government people happen to be voting for at any given moment, it's hard to understand why he only applies this logic to Holyrood elections. With the SNP starting from a 21-point deficit at the last Westminster election, the fact that they are now only 7% behind Labour on party identification is hugely encouraging for the general election next year. And to be fair, Maddox helps prove this point in a later post linking to a chart that demonstrates the changing face of party identification in Scotland over the last few years - and confirms a significant closing of the gap between Labour and the SNP since June 2005.