Support for Labour at all-time low: poll

LONDON (AFP) - Support for the Labour Party has fallen to a record low, according to an opinion poll out Thursday which suggested the main opposition Conservative Party were now 26 points ahead.

The YouGov survey for Friday's edition of The Sun tabloid indicated that nearly half of the electorate (49 percent) now support David Cameron's Tories, fresh from their success in local elections in England and Wales last week.

In contrast, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party, in power for 11 years, slumped to 23 percent -- even less than the national vote equivalent in the May 1 polls that saw them limp in third.

The Sun said Labour's score was the lowest since poll records began in the 1930s and was the Tories' second biggest lead and unmatched since 1968, shortly after Labour prime minister Harold Wilson's devaluation of the pound.

The politicalbetting.com website described it as "perhaps the most sensational opinion poll for decades", giving it weight because YouGov correctly called the London mayoral contest as a symbolic Tory win.

This week's edition of The Economist magazine, out Friday, carries an editorial, asking whether Brown, in office for just under a year after more than 10 years waiting impatiently on the sidelines, is "doomed".

Labour goes back to the polls in a May 22 by-election in the Crewe and Nantwich constituency in northwest England, trying to retain the seat held by Labour lawmaker Gwyneth Dunwoody until her death last month.

Conservative campaigning is already under way in earnest to try to overturn her 7,000 majority, which in the current climate many commentators think is looking slim.

Brown and Labour are on the back foot. They went into the elections facing severe criticisms over their botched tax reforms, the government's recent economic record, a wave of industrial unrest and rising costs of living.

Talk has increased since last week about whether Brown should face a leadership challenge, although Labour insiders have dismissed the idea, amid much soul-searching among lawmakers about how Labour can reverse the slump.

He is also fighting to contain a row that appears to put him at odds with the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Wendy Alexander, who has said she backs the Scottish National Party's plan for a referendum on Scotland's future as part of the United Kingdom -- although Labour would be campaigning for a 'no' vote.

- YouGov questioned 1,571 adults online between May 7-8.

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Printable View
• Blog This

Recommend this article

Sponsored Links

(What’s this?)