Tories three points ahead of Labour in new poll

The Tories have pulled ahead of Labour in a new poll in today’s Evening Standard. The Ipsos Mori poll puts David Cameron’s party three points ahead of Labour, at 32, and Labour down four points to 29. The Lib Dems are on 9 and Ukip 14.

This poll is just one poll, Labour will say, as it tries to stop more panic breaking out ahead of Miliband’s speech tomorrow. But it is a bad poll, the worst poll for Labour so far. The Labour leader does need to reassure his party that going neck-and-neck and sometimes behind the Tories is not a symptom of Labour’s weaknesses but a feature of the era of multi-party politics which means that no mainstream party can expect a poll lead. That the Tories are on 32 per cent is hardly a sign of strength, either.

What would cause more panic would be the party sinking below the 29 per cent that Gordon Brown secured in the 2010 general election.