Liberal Democrats Could Lose 50 MPs At Next General Election, Poll Finds

Posted: 16/04/2012 10:32 Updated: 16/04/2012 10:32

The Liberal Democrats face losing all but seven of their current 57 MPs at the next general election, according to a poll published on Monday.

According to The Sun, deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg faces the chop, along with Vince Cable, Danny Alexander and former energy secretary Chris Huhne.

A survey conducted by polling firm YouGov for the tabloid examined the party's support in 76 key seats that will be created following changes to constituency boundaries due to be brought in by 2015.

In 2010 the Lib Dems received 41% of the vote in those seats, ahead of the Tories on 32% and Labour on 19%.

However the poll suggested the party faces a cataclysmic collapse of support in those areas leaving it in third place on just 24% of the vote.

If the numbers remain the same at the general election, Ed Davey (Kingston & Surbiton) would be the only Lib Dem cabinet minister to survive the meltdown.

David Laws, Norman Lamb, Don Foster, Mark Williams, Bob Russell and Alistair Carmichael would be the only other survivors, according to the YouGov poll.

In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, Clegg acknowledged his party faces an uphill battle to regain the support of voters but said people were now at least prepared to listen.

He said: "I totally accept that it's a legitimate criticism that when you are involved in the day-to-day scrum of government... that what can get lost is the narrative, the hymn sheet... the song that inspires and lifts people's sights."

Clegg also dismissed suggestions he would step down before the general election in order to more effectively battle the Tories.

"Of course, I'll go into the general election as Deputy Prime Minister," he said. "We are here for five years."

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The Liberal Democrats face losing all but seven of their current 57 MPs at the next general election, according to a poll published on Monday. According to The Sun, deputy prime minister and Lib De...
The Liberal Democrats face losing all but seven of their current 57 MPs at the next general election, according to a poll published on Monday. According to The Sun, deputy prime minister and Lib De...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
britalia56
05:27 PM on 05/02/2012
you must be so proud clegg!
04:27 PM on 04/20/2012
It must be time for Nick Clegg to go on another holiday, and forget to come back. Nobody will miss him, except maybe the Liberal Democratic party at their annual general meeting, or as it will now be called, the Liberal Democratic Wake.
05:19 PM on 04/19/2012
Well thats what you get for being a political party whose sole ambition is power. You cannot have people vote for you then bare faced lie to them and fail to give what you promise in a manifesto, and expect them to vote for you again no matter what. Any respect they had as a legitimate political party has gone down like the Titanic and may the party rest in peace and never be heard from again.
02:57 AM on 04/20/2012
Coalition....it's a coalition. They're, by far, the smaller partner, they cannot call the shots or implement any of their manifesto in such a coalition. All they can hope to do is influence the Tories and soften some of their policies around the edges. Better inside the tent than out of it and yet the country will turn on them in a predictable knee-jerk fashion leaving us without any hope of influencing either of the two major parties in the next Parliament or beyond.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
OD4U
If its OK for one then its OK for all.
06:42 PM on 04/24/2012
Cannot agree with you, even though they are the smaller partner in the coalition. They have repeatedly failed to soften anything aimed by the Tories at the general public. The Tories are hell bent on propping up the financiers i.e. banks etc at any cost to the public. The coalition has always possessed the power to do more for the general public, but they have chosen to simply be a Tory lapdog. If Nick Clegg had the nerve to keep to his promises, even some of them, and thereby alter Tory policy we, the public, would not feel so betrayed.
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carneliancrystal
Do I believe all the propaganda of course I do
11:13 AM on 04/19/2012
Oh what a shame.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
montecristo5000
09:48 AM on 04/19/2012
Clegg also dismissed suggestions he would step down before the general election in order to more effectively battle the Tories.

"Of course, I'll go into the general election as Deputy Prime Minister," he said. "We are here for five years."

It's the only taste of power he's ever going to get, so he's holding onto it for dear life.
10:04 PM on 04/17/2012
Although I dont have too much respect for the Sun newspaper, they have reported that in opinion polls recently, UKIP are outstripping the Lib Dems. If that is correct, its one hell of a result for a party that has only existed for a very short time.
Maybe people are sick of the "Oh yes you did, Oh no we didnt" petty wrangling of the main parties who argue about things that happened 50 years ago and forget they are meant to be running the country now.
We've seen Labour romp to power and almost bankrupt us, we now see the Tories shilly shallying about and apparently achieving very little, often through the interference of the EU.
My wife and I joined UKIP recently, they talk a lot of sense, and are not bogged down with political history going back to Gladstone and Disraeli. Why not take a look at their manifesto ? You might like what you see.
08:41 PM on 04/17/2012
When any party rengenes practically on all its policial manifesto promises on which they should for at the election... They can never be trusted again..
As they say in politic's these day,

"END OF"
"END OF"
"END OF"
hahahahahhah
08:32 PM on 04/17/2012
i'm sure the tories will find a place in their party for a public schollboy millionaire like cleggy.
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
12:20 AM on 04/18/2012
Well' they'll need someone to fetch the Coffee and Biscuits I suppose..lol
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MrAnon
07:41 PM on 04/17/2012
The Lib Dems are finished, they had their chance and they blew it, come the elections they will lose big-time, of that I have no doubt.
07:19 PM on 04/17/2012
lib dem puppy dogs of the torys always have been to them it the only way they could ever get power
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
12:21 AM on 04/18/2012
Yeah' pathetic uh?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Awake-and-Sing
named after a great play written by Clifford Odets
06:58 PM on 04/17/2012
I really wish the Liberal Democrats had not gone into coalition with the Conservatives and instead the Conservatives should have been forced to do a minority government and be held solely responsible for their policies.

Even if a snap election had been called and Conservatives won a majority (which is doubtful), hundreds of Liberal Democratic councillors would have been saved and the party would have survived in opposition to fight another day.

Every time in history the Liberal Party supported the Conservatives, it was electoral disaster for the Liberal Party.
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
12:26 AM on 04/18/2012
Yes'...Sold their supporters down the river like a carpet-bagger snake-oil salesman'...The tragedy is though'..We have to wait another3 and a half years to get rid of this rotten coalition.
06:55 PM on 04/17/2012
If there is a LibDem MP left in wesminster this will only prove some folk like spineless self serving creeps!
06:37 PM on 04/17/2012
When the Liberals formed a coalition in the last century with the Tories they were discribed after the break up as insupportable, insufferable to work with, full of insufficiencies and an insignificant party.

No change then in nearly 100 years.
06:16 PM on 04/17/2012
Gee, have we got to wait that long before getting rid of these so called representatives of the people.
01:28 PM on 04/17/2012
Once you have gone we might get back to being a free counry instead of a police state and stop spending millions of pensioners money survalliance with camras and detectors under our roads to control our movements in the furture what about it Bill & Ben
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
12:32 AM on 04/18/2012
This was what the Tories have been trying to do since the election of Thatcher'...even she wouldn't dare go so far in so short a time...esp'..With our NHS' eventhough they would have done it eventually.