Labour support slumps to 22% as voters show fury

Labour's support was in meltdown today as a new poll showed the party had slumped to a record low of 22 per cent.

A day after Gordon Brown's local and Euro election launch was overshadowed by the MPs' expenses scandal, the YouGov/Sun survey showed the Prime Minister on course for disastrous losses at a general election.

The Tories are on 41 per cent, a lead that would give David Cameron a Commons majority of 152 seats and wipe out Cabinet ministers Jack Straw, John Hutton and Jacqui Smith. The Liberal Democrats are on 21 per cent.

While the Government has been hammered over expenses, the Tories could also be punished in European elections next month. YouGov found Tory support for the Euro poll has plummeted from 37 per cent to 28 per cent as voters show their anger over Conservative claims for manure, moat-cleaning and chandeliers.

Labour support has dropped to 19 per cent for the Euro poll and there are fears it will be beaten by the UK Independence Party. The poll showed six out of 10 voters felt "most MPs have been abusing the allowances system".

Just two per cent said "almost all MPs are reasonably honest". David Cameron fared the best in terms of which main party leader was best placed over the issue. Of those polled, 24 per cent, said they were "very confident" about the Tory leader, compared to nine per cent for Lib Dem chief Nick Clegg and seven per cent for Mr Brown.

All the main parties fear UKIP and the BNP may benefit on 4 June. Former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Tebbit today reiterated his call for voters to punish the main parties.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson joined him in urging constituency parties to consider deselecting MPs over the affair. A ConservativeHome.com poll of activists found an overwhelming majority want sacked Cameron aide Andrew Mackay to quit as MP.

Mr Johnson said there could be grounds for bringing police in to investigate some claims. "It looks to me as though Plod needs to come in," he said. "I must be careful what I say here because I am chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, but some people may very well have a serious case to answer."

Campaign group the TaxPayers' Alliance has made a formal complaint to police over Elliot Morley's expenses. Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "This is too serious an issue to ignore." A Met spokesman said: "We are considering a number of complaints in relation to alleged misuse of expenses."