Majority wants Brown to resign

Today’s Populus poll for The Times showed a dramatic collapse of confidence in Brown’s leadership, barely in the top office for less than a year, with 55 per cent of the voters saying that the party would be more likely to win the next general election if Brown resigned “to make way for a younger, fresher, more charismatic alternative”.

Brown’s personal rating has dropped sharply, along with that of Labour and he now trails the Conservative leader David Cameron and the Liberal Democrats chief Nick Clegg in the leadership stakes.

Brown’s leader rating on a zero to 10 scale has dropped sharply from 4.50 to 4.08 in a month - well below the other leaders. His rating among those saying that they will vote Labour at the next election has fallen to 5.68 (from 6.26 in April and 6.72 in March).

Brown went into the elections suffering severe criticisms over his botched tax reforms, the government’s recent economic record, a wave of industrial unrest and increasing doubts about his personality and ability to lead.

On the question of abolition of 10 per cent tax rate, backbenchers have demanded that the Chancellor Alistair Darling announce quickly how he intends to compensate low-paid workers who are worse off.

The backbench campaign led by Frank Field and Greg Pope met Darling yesterday and, in a statement, said they had been told that he was actively searching for those worst affected and considering how they could be compensated.

Other key findings from the poll, conducted between May 2 and 4, included that support for Labour has fallen by four points in a month to 29 per cent.

The Tories have gained one point to 40 per cent; their lead of 11 points is the largest in the five years of Populus polls. The Liberal Democrats are two points up at 19 per cent, with other parties one point ahead at 12 per cent.

—PTI