Edinburgh - Mr Alex Salmond yesterday rallied his Scottish Nationalist Party for the final time before the Scottish parliament elections, telling them to stop moaning and seize the chance of national empowerment.
But Mr Salmond's speech was overshadowed by the latest opinion polls which show that for the first time in many months Labour has the lead over the SNP in the race for Holyrood. According to an ICM poll for the Scotsman newspaper, Labour has a 14-point lead over the SNP in the first vote and a four-point lead in the second vote for the two-stage election next year.