Pressure mounts on Brown as Labour slip to third in poll

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 10:23

AN OPINION poll putting Labour in third place behind the Liberal Democrats today increased the pressure on Gordon Brown as he made his last party conference speech before a General Election.

The Ipsos Mori survey put the Tories on 36 per cent, the Lib Dems on 25 per cent and Labour on 24 per cent.

The findings came just hours before the Prime Minister's keynote speech to delegates in Brighton, in which he was expected to talk about TV debates with other party leaders and promise tough action today on problem families who terrorise their neighbours.

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy today dismissed the latest poll results, saying: "This is one opinion poll off the back of the Liberal conference."

But he continued: "Labour is a way behind. We are in a real fight. We are the underdogs."

Mr Murphy said Mr Brown would deliver a "policy rich" address to the conference.

"He will give a clear idea of what it would be like if Labour won a fourth term – and it will stand in real contrast to the superficiality of David Cameron, probably the most superficial Tory Party leader in modern history."

Mr Murphy also dismissed the SNP. "While Scotland has lots of political parties, Britain will have the choice of just two governments."

He claimed a vote for the SNP would let David Cameron into Number 10 by the back door.

He said Labour's priority was to do everything possible to support people in getting back into work.

"The Tories said unemployment was a price worth paying. It's never a price worth paying."

Despite the drop to third place, Labour's support in the Ipsos Mori poll dipped only two points from last month while the Tories were dramatically down – from 43 per cent to 36 per cent – and the Lib Dems up eight points.

Ipsos Mori said the Lib Dems traditionally enjoy a "bump" in the polls following their annual conference and Labour will be hoping for their own bounce at the end of this week.

Labour strategists will take some comfort from the findings that satisfaction with the government has increased for the third month in a row, although it is still negative on balance.

Of those asked, 69 per cent are dissatisfied and 26 per cent are satisfied.

Meanwhile, a separate poll for BBC2's Newsnight found 62 per cent of voters saying their view of the Labour Party has worsened since Gordon Brown took over as leader.

Among Labour voters, 55 per cent said their opinion of the party had gone down while eight per cent said their opinion had gone up.