Tories face lowest approval ratings since taking power

By Oliver Hotham

New opinion polls reveal the lowest public support for the Conservative party since coming into government in May 2010.

The polls by the Guardian/ICM and the Sun/YouGov reflect a difficult month for the government. The Sun puts the Conservatives at 32%, Labour at 43% and the Lib Dems at eight per cent.

The Guardian puts the Conservatives at 33%, Labour at 41%, and the Lib Dems at ten per cent.

The Sun poll also suggests that Ukip has overtaken the Lib Dems, putting the eurosceptic party one point ahead of the junior coalition partners.

But the David Cameron/George Osborne team remains the one the voters trust more on the economy, with the Guardian poll putting them at 44% against 31% for Ed Miliband/Ed Balls.

David Cameron yesterday told the BBC that "we need to raise our game" and that mistakes had been made in dealing with the potential fuel shortage, widely considered one of the government's biggest blunders.

"Sometimes a presentational mistake can be an important mistake," he admitted.

The news comes as the coalition faces the consequences of one of a trying months – an unpopular Budget, the pasty tax and granny tax, the fuel panic and the failure to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada are all thought to have contributed to the low ratings.

The government also faces a revolt by Tory backbenchers over the proposed Lords reform as the influential 1922 committee firmly stated its opposition last week.

The poll is bad news for the electoral prospects of mayor of London Boris Johnson and Conservative councillors, who face elections next week, and who may lose votes because of the government's unpopularity.

They also reveal that voters, by wide margins, do not think that three main parties "understand people like me".