Gordon Brown has lost support after email smear scandal

Labour support falls after email scandal

Labour support falls after email scandal

Support for the Labour party has fallen by five per cent in the last week amid news of an email smear scandal, a poll for the Sunday Telegraph has revealed.

The results of the survey of 1,007 adults across the country saw Labour lose five points and the Conservatives drop one point on last week’s poll data.

It now shows that 43 per cent of people favour the Tories while 26 per cent would vote again for a Labour government. The Liberal Democrats are five points behind Labour on 21 per cent.

The poll comes after a difficult week for the government with the Department of Public Prosecutions deciding against prosecuting Tory MP Damian Green over a home office leak row.

Damian McBride, a key prime ministerial aide, also resigned after emails containing smears against top Conservative politicians became public.

Former MP and leading Labour figure Alice Mahon resigned from the party over the affair saying she had been “scandalised” by the row and no long wanted to be associated with the party.

A minority of those interviewed in the poll held Gordon Brown responsible for the email smears scandal with 36 per cent feeling that he had a role in the affair.

The government’s poll ratings have fallen further after a brief boost earlier this month after the G20 meeting in London.