Tommy Sheridan

With new figures showing slumping cash donations to the SNP, Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialists have predicted they are on course to take more seats in next year's parliamentary elections.

New figures from the Electoral Commission showed reportable donations to the Scottish Nationalist Party stood at £58,259 in the second quarter of 2002 - down from £227,966 in the previous three months.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Socialist Party declared reportable donations reaching a new high of £24,603 over the period.

The funding announcement came as a new opinion poll - conducted for The Herald newspaper by NFO System Three - gave the SSP a record eight per cent share of the vote in Scotland.

In some regions, the SSP's support is strong enough to give it hope of winning seats in the Scottish parliament under the proportional representation "top-up" system.

In Glasgow, the party's support is running at 12 per cent, while in the Highlands and Islands, Lothians, and South of Scotland regions it is put at 10 per cent.

It is the second month running the poll has suggested a breakthrough for the SSP.

A party spokesman said that those who ignored the opinion poll evidence were in danger of dismissing reality.

But the SNP said the socialists, who are represented in the Scottish parliament by Tommy Sheridan alone, were still a "one man band".

"We should now welcome the fact that the Scottish Socialist Party have at last complied with the reporting requirements of the Electoral Commission. What it clearly shows is the SSP is a one man band in terms of both political leadership and financial donations," said an SNP spokesman.

The party declined to comment on its own funding, down by almost £170,000 from the first quarter to the second.

To add to the party's woes, the SNP's reported donations came from public funds - almost £28,000 from the House of Commons and £30,000 from the Scottish parliament.

The SSP received £5,234 from the Scottish parliament, a one-off donation of £9,980 from a supporter who sold his house, and £9,389 from Tommy Sheridan, who has declared he will only take a "worker's wage" from his MSP role.

An SSP spokesman cautioned that the party's funds may have been "artificially heightened" by the one-off donation, while the SNP figures could be deflated.

"Money is not what politics is about," said the spokesman, who dismissed suggestions that his party was set to overtake the SNP in the income stakes.

"I don't think that will happen. I think we'll catch them in other ways, in votes or members," he said.

The SNP, which was recently hit by embarrassing internal rows over the future of Margo MacDonald, appears unlikely to make a breakthrough in its battle with Labour.

But the SSP is predicting it could add to its Holyrood contingent.

The party is looking for a "seismic shift" next May, said a spokesman.

Support was coming from both the SNP and "profoundly disappointed" Labour supporters, he said.

"People are realising there is more than one kid on the block as far as independence is concerned...[but] our support comes from traditional Labour areas," the spokesman said.

"We are confident we have in our grasp the chance to have six, seven, eight MSPs alongside Tommy Sheridan."