Labour sinks to 25-year low in poll

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Support for the Labour Party slumped to a 25-year low on Sunday with voters disillusioned over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's handling of the economy against a backdrop of worldwide financial turmoil.

Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron, gearing up for an important test of voter support in local council elections, was the main beneficiary -- but his party warned that it had little room to manoeuvre over any possible tax cuts.

A national election does not have to be held until 2010, but the next major test for Cameron and Brown comes in local council elections in May.

After initially riding high when he succeeded Tony Blair last year, Brown's popularity has plummeted in polls and Alistair Darling, his successor as finance minister, has suffered a rough ride too.

Darling has battled to deal with the global credit crisis and Britain's first bank run in more than a century, which resulted in the government having to nationalise the country's fifth-biggest mortgage lender.

The resurgent Conservatives, trounced by Labour in the past three national elections, enjoyed a massive 16-point lead in the latest Sunday Times poll from YouGov.

As Cameron wrapped up his party's spring conference with a pledge for more "family-friendly policies," the poll showed the Conservatives on 43 per cent, Labour on 27 percent and the centrist Liberal Democrats on 16 percent.

That was Labour's lowest poll rating for 25 years and demonstrated a real thumbs down from voters after last week's Budget.