Tories ‘will take 15 seats from the Lib Dems at general election’

THE LIBERAL Democrats are on course to lose a swathe of seats to the Conservatives at next year’s general election, according to a series of polls.

A study across 17 Tory-Lib Dem marginal constituencies found that the Lib Dem vote has collapsed so significantly that as many as 15 of the party’s MPs are likely to lose.

The Lib Dems are also braced to lose seats to Labour in the North, where their vote has also slumped since 2010.

The findings will pile pressure on Nick Clegg, who has attempted to reassure MPs and activists that his party’s vote is holding up in those seats where they are incumbent – particularly where the Conservatives are the main opposition.

They will also embolden senior Tories who want to kick the Lib Dems while they are down. Lib Dem MPs on the left of the party claim they have been approached by members of the 1922 committee of Conservative backbenchers seeking allies for a plot to try to break up the Coalition.

Senior Conservatives on the committee, said to be planning to stage a vote on whether the coalition parties should go their separate ways, apparently believe the move would be more credible if it was backed by some Lib Dems too.

The research by pollster Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative deputy chairman, provided the first comprehensive picture of how the two coalition parties are faring in seats where they chiefly compete against each other.

It found that the Tory vote share was down eight points since 2010 to 33 per cent, but the Lib Dems were down 15 per cent to 28 per cent. There was an overall 3.5 per cent swing from the Lib Dems to their coalition partners in the seats since 2010.