BRITAIN:SUPPORT FOR the Labour Party in Britain has fallen to a 25-year low, according to a post-budget poll, suggesting a deepening depression among voters about their economic prospects under prime minister Gordon Brown.
In a black response to Chancellor Alistair Darling's tax-raising budget, a YouGov survey of 2,311 voters put support for David Cameron's Conservatives at 43 per cent, a full 16 points ahead of Labour on 27 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats under new leader Nick Clegg languishing at 16 per cent.
Repeated in a general election, that would see Mr Cameron installed as prime minister with a majority of 120 seats and the high-profile scalps of a string of ministers, including Mr Darling.
A second ICM poll, meanwhile, gave Mr Cameron a more modest nine-point lead of the kind necessary if the Conservatives are to win power in one straight electoral heave.
The good news for the Tories came amid renewed debate about the leadership's reluctance to commit to early tax cuts and an indication from Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond, that these might have to be "the great bonus" of a second term Cameron government.
The polls also coincided with a warning to Labour from former Blairite minister Alan Milburn that "the next election is up for grabs". Mr Milburn said Mr Brown was "down but not out" and that there were signs of a Labour recovery.
However, he suggested the next election could be won by the party best able to answer the call for new ideas, particularly in respect of "a new relationship between the citizen and the state".
With Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg both inching towards a smaller state, Mr Milburn cautioned: "Gordon Brown could find himself, by default, defending a big state."
YouGov's poll for the Sunday Timesgave Mr Brown a personal approval rating of minus 26, his lowest since becoming prime minister.
