Labour support crashes to lowest level in 20 yrs

LONDON: Support for Britain's ruling Labour party has crashed to its lowest level in almost 20 years, with the opposition Conservatives opening up a potentially election-winning 10-point lead, according to a new poll.

According to the Guardian/ICM poll, Labour has the backing of only 29 per cent of voters, equal to its lowest-ever level of support recorded in May 1987, a month before Margaret Thatcher won a third term.

The party's support has fallen 3 points since last month, despite Labour's successful annual conference at Manchester and a lack of public conflict over the succession to Tony Blair. The Conservatives have climbed three points, to 39 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats unchanged on 22 per cent.

Support for minor parties, growing in recent months, has dropped back 1 point to 9 per cent. The Green party and the UK Independence party score 2 per cent each.

The collapse in Labour support suggested that the ongoing row over allegations that peerages have been traded for cash and uncertainty over the party's leadership have severely dented its standing.

The findings will heighten mounting unease among Labour MPs that Blair's long goodbye from Down Street is damaging the party.

Blair, who broke records for popularity when he won power in 1997, is seen by many backbenchers as having become an electoral liability.

The Government's reputation for honesty has also been compromised by the peerages row, which is still being probed by Scotland Yard, and the sex scandal that reduced John Prescott, the Deputy Premier, to a figure of fun.

The poll carried out last weekend, follows opposition leader David Cameron's attack on the National Health Service cuts as well as the publication last week of a party report advocating tax cuts of 21 billion pounds.

The results suggest that campaigning on the NHS offers the Tories potential gains, with an overwhelming majority of voters believing that the record sums being spent on health by the government have largely been wasted.

Only 14 per cent of voters think the money invested since 1997 has been well spent, against 72 per cent who agree that a lot has been used badly. Even 58 per cent of Labour voters think the extra money has been misspent.

Labour has more than doubled health spending since 1997 to almost 90 billion pounds a year but seems to be gaining little political credit for its efforts.

However, most people remain proud of Britain's standard of healthcare: 55 per cent still think that the NHS is the envy of the world. People also trust it with their lives, with 60 per cent agreeing that they would get excellent care if they were unwell. Only 30 per cent think they would not.