Breakdown Of The UK Party System - Update

The British polling company Populus has amalgamated recent polls to present an arresting picture of the collapse in support for the major British parties in the wake of the Parliamentary expenses scandal. The major beneficiaries? The Euroskeptic UK Independence Party, the white supremacist British National Party, and the Greens. Populus comments:

Regardless of which party’s MPs have been more in the spotlight on particular days, or which party those accused of the most serious abuses represent, the great majority of voters think that the parties are “as bad as each other”: 86% agreed with this statement in the most recent Populus poll. Because Labour and the Conservatives have seen their support fall by similar amounts over the last couple of weeks, the Conservative lead has remained about the same – but David Cameron’s party has slipped below 40% for the first time this year and the Conservative average in published polls for this month matches its lowest level since the non-election of October 2007. Labour meanwhile is averaging less than 24% in published polls since the Daily Telegraph started to publish details of MPs’ allowances – their lowest level of support since the Michael Foot era over 25 years ago.