GORDON BROWN is braced for defeat in next week’s Glenrothes by-election, with Labour’s canvass returns predicting a 3,000 SNP majority.

Despite the prime minister visiting the constituency twice during the campaign, Labour is resigned to losing another of its safe seats to nationalists. It clawed back about 2,000 votes in the past fortnight, but Labour strategists concede it is “too little too late”. The party won with a 10,644 majority at the last election, but its slide in the polls has contributed to the predicted SNP win.

“We’ve fought a good campaign, but we gave ourselves far too much to do,” said a senior Labour source yesterday.

Another added: “I’m optimistic we can still push it to the wire but if we do lose it will say a lot about what wasn’t done in the constituency prior to the Holyrood election in 2007.”

The SNP said it had found no evidence of a “Brown bounce”. Mike Weir, campaign manager, said: “The only sign of movement is from Labour to the SNP ... this is a by-election the SNP can win.”

John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said a 3,000-vote victory — eight times higher than in Glasgow East last May — would be damaging for Brown. “[It] would demonstrate just what a massive problem Labour has got. Like the Tories in England, voters are using the SNP as a battering ram against the Labour government.”

Fife council said it has received 7,000 requests for postal votes, about 2,000 more than for a typical by-election.

The vote follows the death of Labour MP John MacDougall.

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