Mr Murphy is predicting he will be victorious even though the latest poll published by Lord Ashcroft suggests the SNP could come out on top with their candidate Kirsten Oswald replacing the Labour man who has been MP since 1997.

The findings of the poll were published on Friday when the Labour Party released its manifesto.

The results have Mr Murphy trailing the SNP by nine points, a significant shift from its February findings which had Labour ahead by a narrow one point.

Even so, Mr Murphy is still targeting victory and he highlighted previous examples where he had beaten the odds to succeed.

He said: "I've always been the outsider. The Tories were the favourites in previous elections and now this poll makes the SNP favourites.

"But I have a great campaign team and I'm confident of winning."

Mr Murphy opened his campaign office in Barrhead on Saturday and took his soap box to Buchanan Street and Byers Road where he continued to deliver his party's key pledges.

Writing in this week's Barrhead News, he repeated his argument that the best way to end austerity is to ensure the Tories do not retain power after May 7.

He said: "Labour will end Tory austerity. I have held weekly advice surgeries in Barrhead most weeks for eighteen years as the local MP.

"The past couple of years have been the hardest in all of that time as more and more people have come to see me in search of help. There are too many people in Barrhead who I meet who are working hard and feel no better off.

"While the Conservatives want even deeper cuts to public services and more austerity Labour have a better plan. It’s a fairer approach to tackling the deficit.

"We will ask those who are better off to contribute a little more through the mansion tax on homes worth more than £2 million, the bankers’ bonus tax and a 50p tax rate on those earning over £150,000 a year. We will freeze energy prices, increase the National Minimum Wage to at least £8 an hour and end those exploitative zero hours contracts to make work pay for working class families.

"After this election there will either be a Labour government or a Tory government. Five more years of Tory austerity or a fairer way forward with Labour’s alternative approach. A vote for Labour here in East Renfrewshire will help stop David Cameron being re-elected and continuing with his crushing austerity. No other party can defeat the Tories."