Three new opinion polls have offered conflicting messages for Labour as it seeks to respond to the Brent East by-election defeat.

A MORI poll in the FT finds that Labour's lead over the Conservatives has widened to nine per cent. Labour is on 40 per cent, the Tories are on 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats receive a 21 per cent share of support among those surveyed.

There is also strong backing for Tony Blair, with 42 per cent saying he is the best candidate for prime minister, compared to 15 per cent for Iain Duncan Smith and 18 per cent for Charles Kennedy.

Meanwhile, a Populus poll for the Times newspaper suggests that traditional Labour voters now regard the Lib Dems as better representing their views.

And a YouGov poll for the Telegraph finds that 67 per cent of voters believe that increases in public spending will "mostly be wasted".

The polls follow Labour's shock defeat in Brent East on Thursday.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, home secretary David Blunkett said the government had to "change or die".

"We have got to get back in touch much more readily at the grassroots," he said.

And the departing Number 10 director of communications, Alastair Campbell, said the government had experienced a "difficult period".

"I think that what has happened is that we have been defying political gravity. And it has maybe gone back to a bit of normality now," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile the Populus research offered a mixed picture of the Lib Dems' standing with the public.

Data on where the party stood was revealed at a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton on Monday.

Half the public think the party is honest but at the same time believe the it promises the earth in order to get elected.

If the party wanted to increase its support it should keep its pledge to raise income tax by one penny and strengthen other policies, argued Michael Simmonds of Populus.

"The one pence pledge is on their current issue the Liberal Democrats are showing strongly," he said. "But there isn't a strong sense of identity for what else the party is about."

Simmonds counselled in favour of tougher policies on crime, promoting more its pledge to deliver public services locally and not focusing on the euro because it is not that important to voters.

Peter Riddell argued the latest poll news had greater shocks for Labour and the Conservatives, and it centred on where the two main rivals had positioned themselves with the electorate.

"It's telling that the Tory supporters put the party to the right of where any other party is," he said. "Most people like to view their party as being more centre-ist. There's an opening here for the Liberal Democrats.

"The public image is pretty favourable. There's a warm feeling about it as decent, honest and not tarnished with the problems of the other parties.

"But the protest vote is still there. What this shows is there's plenty more hurdles ahead."