Support for Blair’s Labour at near two-decade low: poll

LONDON: Support for British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party has slumped to its lowest level in almost 20 years, a poll revealed on Tuesday.

The ICM survey for The Guardian newspaper, published ahead of local elections in England next week, showed the party had suffered a five-point drop over the past month to 32 per cent — fewer than a third of voters.

It was the worst show of support for Labour since it suffered a heavy defeat in the general election of 1987, the daily said.

The second opposition Liberal Democrats rather than the main rival Conservatives appeared to be benefiting from the slide away from Labour.

The party, under new leader Menzies Campbell, gained three points to capture 24 per cent of the potential vote.

As for the Conservative Party, which also has a new leader, David Cameron, it stood at 34 per cent — a two-point lead over Labour but unchanged from the previous month. ICM interviewed 1,006 adults across the country by telephone between April 21 and 23 with results weighted to the profile of all adults.