Economic woes see Tories continue poll-lead
The Conservatives continue to hold an election-winning lead over Labour with Gordon Brown continuing to lose voters’ confidence.
The latest YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph places support for the Conservatives at 43 per cent, up three on last month.
Support for Labour has fallen four points and now trails 14 points behind on 29 per cent.
The Liberal Democrats have climbed one point to 17 per cent.
Analysts say the spread could see the Conservatives claim a 100-seat majority at the next election, although electoral commentators maintain a hung parliament is the most likely result of a Labour defeat.
A breakdown of the results suggests Labour’s falling support can be traced back to the Budget and the wider financial downturn, with Labour losing voters’ economic confidence.
Just one-fifth believe Labour is handling the current economic downturn well compared to 59 per cent who think they are not doing a good job.
As a result 35 per cent think Mr Cameron and George Osborne would be better at running the economy, over the 27 per cent supporting Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.
Significantly the ‘feel good factor’ – which measures voters’ confidence in the future of the economy – stands at a record low of minus-52. This contrasts to the depths of the 1990s recession, when it never sank below minus-26.
Accordingly, nearly two-thirds of respondents expect their own household finances to get worse over the next year, in contrast to the 12 per cent expecting an improvement.
In a bid to capitalise on Labour’s newfound economic weakness, Mr Cameron will today give a speech to the City of London.
He will say the financial uncertainty is making people look to the government for reassurance but it is unable to provide any.
