YouGov poll puts Labour on 33%, behind Tories at 35%, as Miliband struggles for political momentum after conference speech

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Labour’s poll ratings have hit a four-year low as Ed Miliband faced fresh criticism from party grandees.

The latest in a series of YouGov polls putting the Conservatives ahead had Labour on 33%, the party’s lowest figure with the pollster since June 2010, before Miliband’s election as leader.

The survey for the Sun put the Tories on 35%, Ukip on 13% and the Liberal Democrats on 8%.

Pressure is mounting on Miliband over his leadership after more influential figures in the party took a swipe at his election strategy.

The Labour leader is struggling to gain the political momentum and his speech at Labour’s party conference, during which he failed to mention the deficit, appears to have cleared the way for critics in the party to speak openly.

Concerns have been raised about plans to introduce a mansion tax on properties worth more than £2m. Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, told the Times it was “too crude to work properly”.

She said: “I don’t think it’s the world’s most sensible idea. We need to tackle the idea that people are shielding their money in London through properties. The problem identified is the right one, I just think the solution is too crude to work properly.”

The former cabinet minister Dame Tessa Jowell told the newspaper: “I am concerned about typically older families who are asset-rich and income-poor. They bought houses 40 years ago, which have appreciated enormously in value, and they certainly can’t afford a mansion tax. The important thing is we set out how it will be applied and the fairness test that will apply.”

At the weekend Lord Prescott criticised Miliband’s “far too timid” strategy and underwhelming conference performance.

Prominent Labour donors also raised concerns, with Lord Noon, one of the party’s significant individual benefactors, saying the party “really need to buck up” and Lord Levy, who was Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser, criticising the tax plans as “totally inappropriate”.

One of Labour’s biggest individual donors, the JML founder John Mills, told the Huffington Post that the mansion tax could push people into negative equity. “The problem with the mansion tax – apart from issues of whether it’s fair or going to work – is it requires really tricky valuations,” he said.

“It’s a step from zero to some quite large number which is going to produce all sorts of problems on the boundary. If people have got mortgages, they could get into negative equity. There are these sort of problems as well.”

The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, said he was “surprised” that Miliband had forgotten the economic section of his keynote conference speech. He told ITV1’s The Agenda: “Sometimes in life you can forget the most important things. In that speech, not talking about the deficit.”

The latest YouGov poll follows one by the Conservative pollster Lord Ashcroft on Monday which put Labour two points down on 30%, behind the Conservatives who were unchanged on 32%.

A survey by Populus put Labour on 37%, ahead of the Tories on 31%, Ukip on 15% and the Lib Dems on 8%.

• YouGov interviewed 1,739 British adults online on 5-6 October.