Tories failing to make inroads into Labour lead
Labour retains a strong lead over the Conservatives, according to polls published today.
NOP’s poll for The Independent newspaper sees Labour on 37 per cent, down one point on a poll undertaken a week ago, with the Tories and Liberal Democrats unchanged on 32 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
Should the poll reflect results at the general election, Labour would win the mandate for a third term of power with a reduced majority in the Commons of around 100, according to politics.co.uk’s election predictor.
A Populus poll for The Times newspaper puts Labour up three points on 40 per cent, the Conservatives down four points on 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 21 per cent.
Labour is also on 40 per cent in Mori’s poll for the Financial Times, with the Conservatives on 32 and the Liberal Democrats on 21 respectively.
NOP’s poll for The Independent also found Labour would be more attractive to voters if led by Chancellor Gordon Brown. It suggested a Brown administration could win a mighty majority of 234 in the Commons.
And some 23 per cent of those interviewees inclined to vote Liberal Democrat would switch to Brown-led Labour, as would 16 per cent of Tories.
Only 17 per cent of voters said they trusted the Prime Minister to honour his promises. Thirty per cent said they trusted Mr Brown. But a total of 37 per cent said they trusted neither man.
Meanwhile, Mori’s poll for The Financial Times found voters unconvinced that the Tories are a low tax party and would spend public money more wisely than Labour.
Over four out of ten said Labour would be the most effective in managing the public purse, while 30 per cent chose the Tories.
The poll found four out of five respondents said they believed Labour would increase taxes after the election while 67 per cent said they believed the Tories would follow suit.
NOP asked 958 adults between April 15-17; Populus conducted its poll between April 15 -17; and Mori interviewed 1,005 adults between April 15-18 by telephone.
