The British Labour Party goes into the party conference season 19 points behind the Tories after failing to make up significant ground with recent initiatives, according to an opinion poll published today.
The YouGov survey puts the Conservatives up one, on 46 per cent, and Labour up two, on 27 per cent.
It suggests the government's economic recovery package this month has done little to improve Labour's chances of beating the Tories.
The £1 billion energy package announced by prime minister Gordon Brown came only while the poll was being undertaken.
The Liberal Democrats, gathering in Bournemouth for their annual conference, are down two points on 16 per cent.
Some 73 per cent of voters felt Mr Brown was doing a bad job as prime minister, compared with 20 per cent who thought he was doing well.
That gave him a net negative rating of 53 per cent, while Tory leader David Cameron had a net positive rating of 27 per cent.
YouGov questioned a representative sample of 2,161 British voters online for the
Sunday Timesbetween September 10th and 12th.
PA