Chris Huhne’s prediction that Liberal Democrat support would fall to 5 per cent as a result of the government’s austerity measures looks ever more accurate. The latest YouGov survey puts Nick Clegg’s party on just 7 per cent, their lowest rating since 1990. If repeated at a general election on a uniform swing, the latest figures would reduce the Lib Dems to a rump of just nine MPs.
As the graph below shows, in less than ten months, Lib Dem support has fallen from a peak of 34 per cent during the height of Cleggmania to 7 per cent
(All figures from YouGov)
The party’s new poll low coincides with an approval rating of -20 for the coalition, the lowest yet recorded. But with the Conservatives on 39 per cent (3 points higher than at the general election), it’s Nick Clegg’s party that is suffering the greatest damage.
The Lib Dems’ decision to abandon three of their key election pledges – opposition to a VAT increase, higher tuition fees and early spending cuts – has, unsurprisingly, alienated millions of those who voted for them at the election.
Simon Hughes’s argument in this week’s NS that the Lib Dems are now the “constructive progressives” of British politics is not without merit. His party can take much of the credit for measures such as the pupil premium, the abolition of child detention and the repeal of identity cards. Today’s announcement by Nick Clegg on libel reform is another example of a progressive policy that the Lib Dems’ presence in government is allowing them to introduce.
Clegg’s ultimate hope is that his party will share credit with the Conservatives for restoring the British economy to health. But should support for the Lib Dems continue to plummet, an increasingly restive party may decide that’s not a gamble worth taking.
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