Polls present mixed picture

The Conservatives have increased their poll lead over Labour, according to a new poll.

The YouGov survey for the Sunday Times put the Conservatives up two points on last month on 47 per cent.

David Cameron's party have a 22 per cent lead on Labour, which remained stuck at 25 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats were also unchanged at 18 per cent.

The results of the survey suggest that Gordon Brown is bearing the brunt of the economic situation, with 49 per cent of respondents believing the economy was in a "quite bad" state and 24 per cent saying it was "very bad".

A separate ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday suggested that support for the Tories had fallen following David Davis' shock resignation.

Before the news broke at 1pm on Thursday, support for the Tories was at 48 per cent, but had fallen to 41 per cent after.

Labour remained on 26 per cent in the ComRes poll, while the Lib Dems fell two points to 17 per cent.

However, an ICM poll for Mail on Sunday found that the Tories were still very popular in Haltemprice and Howden.

Some 59 per cent of constituents said they would vote Conservative in a general election, against 36 per cent for the Lib Dems and 12 per cent for Labour.