LONDON (AFP) — The Conservative party are on a 16-year poll rating high, a survey for The Sunday Times newspaper found.
The Conservatives are on 44 percent, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's governing Labour Party on 28 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 17 percent, the survey by pollsters YouGov showed.
Brown, who has endured a tough week amid criticism from Labour backbenchers over his scrapping of the 10 percent starting rate of income tax as the economy suffers from the global credit crunch, saw his personal rating plunge.
From a peak of plus 48 in September, it has now dropped to minus 37, which the weekly broadsheet said was the steepest decline endured by any modern British prime minister.
And the survey indicated that voters would prefer it if Tony Blair were still leading the Labour Party. If he were, the Conservative lead would be just five percentage points, it found.
Brown took over as Labour leader and prime minister when Blair stepped down in June last year.
Just 26 percent thought Brown was "decisive", with 60 percent believing he was a "ditherer".
Furthermore, 57 percent said he was "floundering" and 14 percent thought he was "in control of events".
YouGov questioned 1,755 voters online across Britain on Thursday and Friday.
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