Labour support slumps

Labour is trailing the Conservative Party by 23 points one year after Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister, an opinion poll has revealed.

Support for the Tories stands at 49 per cent compared with Labour's 26 per cent - easily enough to give David Cameron a House of Commons majority at the next General Election.

The BPIX poll comes days before Mr Brown's first year anniversary in power.

The survey also found that 85 per cent of voters feel Mr Brown has performed worse than they expected since becoming party leader.

More than half of voters (55 per cent) said Tory leader Mr Cameron had exceeded expectations since taking the reins.

While 50 per cent of voters said he was charismatic, only 3 per cent could label Mr Brown with the same description.

One in 10 voters said Mr Brown represented change, against four in 10 for Mr Cameron.

The poll also revealed that a total of 53 per cent said that, in hindsight, they wished Mr Brown had not ousted Mr Blair.

Chancellor Alistair Darling acknowledged that Mr Brown's first year in Number 10 had been "difficult".

He said: "I have always taken the view that we can turn this round. We have had a difficult year, whether it's the economy or other political issues as well, but I believe we are doing the right thing."

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