As party leaders hit the campaign trail this morning they were greeted with a poll showing the Liberal Democrats had jumped into second place behind the Conservatives.
A YouGov daily survey for The Sun suggested the contest had become a three-horse race, with the Conservatives in the lead on 33 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 30 per cent and Labour trailing on 28 per cent.
The dramatic jump in support for the party is attributed to Nick Clegg's widely praised performance in the first leaders debate on Thursday.
According to the paper, the Lib Dems took four points from the Conservatives, three from Labour and one from smaller parties.
Back on the campaign trail today, Clegg will visit Kingston hospital with his wife Miriam, where one of their sons was born.
And they will later campaign in the area with Liberal Democrat Richmond Park MP Susan Kramer, and the party's foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey in Kingston and Surbiton.
Also campaigning in the west and south west of the capital today are shadow London minister Justine Greening and shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers.
The two Tory front benchers will be campagining with parliamentary candidates in Richmond, Ealing, Twickenham and Hammersmith as part of "Heathrow Action Day".
Apparently conscious that the rise in Liberal Democrat support makes a hung Parliament more likely, David Cameron told a campaign rally in Gloucester this morning that the country needed a “strong decisive Conservative government”.
“There's a choice, you don't have to put up with five more years of Gordon Brown,” he said.
“There is only one way to make sure that doesn't happen, vote Conservative on May 6”.
The prime minister himself will be campaigning in Milton Keynes this afternoon.
And Foreign Secretary David Miliband and defence secretary Bob Ainsworth will launch Labour's Defence and Security manifesto in south London today.
In further evidence that the two bigger parties are turning their guns on Nick Clegg, Ainsworth used appearance on the BBC's Today programme this morning to ridicule Liberal Democrat defence policy.
"Nick's position appears to be that he wants to have an independent nuclear deterrent but he wants a cheap one,” he said.
"A cheap one would be a vulnerable and ineffective one and that is the fact. It is a ridiculous policy."
He added: "Now that the Liberal Democrats are getting the kind of focus that they have, then we will be able to examine some of their policies, like for instance Trident.
"You cannot have an independent nuclear deterrent that is cheap and ineffective, and there are silly policies in other areas as well."
Elsewhere on the campaign today the English Democrats officially launch their campaign in Kent, and weather presenter Sian Lloyd campaigns for Plaid Cymru in Aberystwyth.
And in Scotland SNP leader Alex Salmond will join the SNP’s candidate for Banff and Buchan, Dr Eilidh Whiteford, and Gordon candidate, Richard Thomson, at a campaign rally in Aberdeenshire.
Article Comments
Not sure if that's a fair characterization from Ainsworth, Clegg in the debate seemed to say abandon trident altogether, not propose some cheap trident. Nor does the main manifesto.Many of us are hoping that everyone will see through the inevitable political tactics that the conservatives and labour will deploy.
17th Apr 2010 at 1:28 pm by Anthony
