These polls really are awful for the Tories

The details of the polls this morning make for even grimmer reading for the Tories than the headline figures. Populus reports that, astonishingly, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling’s lead over David Cameron and George Osborne on the economy has actually grown in the past ten days from 34 points to 38. While the ICM poll finds that Labour is now ahead on all nine key issues. The lead on the economy is a whopping 25 percent and the Tory advantage on health, which was always more a function of dissatisfaction with Labour’s handling of the NHS than anything else, has now disappeared to be replaced by a 13 point Labour one. To round things off, anti-Tory sentiment still persists. ICM finds that 62 percent of voters would consider voting Labour, 56 percent Lib Dem but only 50 percent Conservative. Looking at these numbers, one can definitely see the case for an autumn election even if I still think that on balance it is unlikely.