THE FRONTRUNNER in the race to became Labour's new Holyrood leader has suffered a blow after a YouGov poll showed that three-quarters of Scots barely knew anything about him.

Only 4% of respondents in a YouGov poll said they knew "a lot" about Iain Gray, the East Lothian MSP who has taken an early lead in the contest.

The sample found that 8% were familiar with his leadership rival Andy Kerr, while 17% said they knew "a lot" about the third candidate, Cathy Jamieson.

The snapshot, commissioned by the SNP this month, found that 76% knew "little about" Gray or had "not heard" of him at all.

Kerr fared slightly better, 8% saying they knew "a lot" about him, against 62% who knew "little" about the former health minister or had "not heard" of him.

Topping the Labour recognition league was Jamieson, the former justice minister. 17% said they knew "a lot" about her, against 38% who said they knew "little" or nothing about the left-wing MSP.

In contrast, the poll showed 48% knew "a lot" about First Minister Alex Salmond, and 19% said the same of Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie.

The poll also found that more than half of Scots think Salmond is doing a better job than Gordon Brown, with 52% of respondents saying they thought the first minister was performing better then the PM.

Iain Gray said: "I'm not too surprised by this, having been out of the parliament for four years until 2007, but I believe I can offer a fresh perspective on what the party needs to rebuild trust with the voters and take the fight to the SNP. We need to choose a leader that the party can unite around."