Populus poll confirms LibDem troubles

Four-fifths of the questioning for this Populus survey for The Times was undertaken before Brown made his non-election announcement.  It does not capture the announcement's fallout, therefore.

Two things are clear from the poll, however:

• The LibDems are in trouble.  First Ming lost support to Labour and he's now losing it to the Conservatives.  Populus has never recorded a rating as low as 12% for the LibDems.
• The Conservatives are narrowing the 'deal with economic difficulties' gap.  Immediately after the Northern Rock episode Darling-Brown enjoyed a 56% to 18% lead over Osborne-Cameron.  It's now just 43% to 28%.

Comments

[fr]

So far so good. But can someone with influence tell the party to lose those morons in Gordon masks and bottles of beer. I can feel about 10,000 votes being lost every time they appear on the screen.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

If Nick Clegg does not mount a challenge soon he will get a reputation for being as indecisive as the current holder of Number 10. Will he won't he? Surely he must.

[Tory Lady]

The Liberal Democrats in Cornwall are in one hell of a spin with the prospect of losing five seats if not all six to the conservatives as they nose dive in popularity. Gypsy site provision imposed by Gordon Brown is the most recent problem for the electorate or more specifically the NIMBYS, causing them one big headache. Today Andrew George, St Ives is talking of reviews of the situation. Julia Goldsworthy was only six weeks as being talked as unmoveable. Pity the conservatives are in such bad shape after the Crossley Debacle.

[Tory Lady]

I forgot to add that the Cornish Liberal Democrat MPs were supporters and proposers of Ming, and now, are being blamed for their Folly. Ming must go if the fortunes of the Cornish Libs are to be saved, is being said in Cornish Lib Circles. Ming is seen as good for the Cornish Tories even if there is only a handful of activists.

[Jon]

Couldn't agree more about the beer bottle morons. Pathetic. Stop it now and start acting like grown-ups.

[Cornwall Tory]

The Liberal Democrats in Cornwall certainly are in a spin with both Matthew Taylor and now Colin Breed both jumping ship at the next election.

The Liberal Democrats have been forcing through a Unitary Authority at County level even though 80% voted against in local polls.

Also at County the Liberal Democrats have failed to fund the local fire service properly and have seen thousands marching against proposed cuts in fire cover.

The Conservatives are far from weak with brand new constituencies following redistribution. All you do is have a look at their May results when their District Councillor team increased massively.

[Martin Burrows]

Better to wave Placards stating about Broon:

NO MANDATE IN ENGLAND!

[Scotty]

Tough week ahead with the CSR and PBR grabbing the headlines. We will need to be ready to spot any bad news buried in the small print and go on the offensive immediately.

[Steve MacFarlane]

Um...did The Sun come out with a pro-Major headline after Black Wednesday...?

George Pascoe-Watson: "Tories who popped open the champagne yesterday should stuff the cork back in the bottle. Gordon Brown is a Goliath but plucky David hasn't come close to killing him. Brown is a political giant who'll use tomorrow's budget and spending review to get back on track. The Tories should be wary."

Did The Sun tell Labour to be wary of John Major after Black Wednesday?! In The Times, Peter Riddell judges: "A turning point? No." He believes an opportunity exists for Cameron, adding:

"The Tory lead could be as short-lived now as it was in September 2000 during the fuel protests."

The amazing thing about the new Times poll is that with a conference bounce and 20% of respondents answering AFTER the election debacle, the Tories are still trailing - and since it could take a 10% LEAD for Cameron to win...

[Tapestry]

The bottle campaign is organised by The Sun. Someone has to point out that Labour is in the Brown Stuff, and that they are becoming a laughing stock. Brown is weak and a ditherer. What would you prefer? A picture of Labour splattering, like the ones on my blog? The bottle image is relatively restrained.

Do you want people to start taking Gordon Brown seriously? The pretence surely has to stop. The nation will feel ill having to act deferentially to a muppet. He's lost all respect. Bottle away, I say. Labour need a new leader, and Britain needs a new Prime Minister.

[PETER]

Re Cornwall Tory @ 23.46 The Tories are not in control in Cornwall, the liberal democrats are, and they do have a fine local electoral machine. Speaking to a local tory he tells me that there is a major void of conservative activists in the Falmouth area, which is an inheritance consequent of the Crossley troubles. I also understand you are facing a powerful block of former conservatives who are now independently minded, but too win you need them on side.
I also hear that cornwalls tory councillors are not working as one force.

[Graham D'Amiral]

Trevor Kavannah was more cutting than the Sun's Political editor in his coloumn in the paper. The Journalist who Tony Blair made the most effort to keep on side accused Mr Brown of being weak, looking like a fool and having been permanently damaged by this weeks events, he said bluntly "The clunking fist is back, but nobody is frightened of it anymore"

[Comstock]

So the Tories had a good run in May, then we had the Brown bounce and now the polls are pretty much back where they were then.

18 months to polling day.......game on.

[SWTTWTW]

I'm never quite sure whether all this Cornwall guff is coming from a disaffected (so-called) Tory,a UKIPPER or a Lib Dem. The reality is that the Lib Dems in Cornwall are in meltdown - with Taylor and Breed both rushing towards the door marked exit. Even one of their Council Leaders has resigned.

But there are 2 other big changes: firstly, the Cornwall Conservatives have finally got their act together with a new and re-invigorated machine that is actually getting out there and campaigning. Secondly they have, at last, learnt the lesson and picked some genuinely local candidates - like Sarah Newton, an old girl of Falmouth School, Caroline Righton who used to work on the Packet and Sherryl Murray whose husband still fishes for a living.

So come on all you so called Tory Ladys etc. - give credit where its due and start working for a Conservative victory in Cornwall rather than sniping negatively from the sidelines - that's of course if you are a Tory?!?