UP AND DOWN

by RAY FLEMING
THE Independent's useful monthly “poll of polls” shows the Conservatives down two points and Labour up by the same amount, so the gap between the two parties is now a “bridgeable” eight points. “Don't knows” are also up by two points at a fairly significant 14 percent while the Liberals have flipped to 16 percent. The pundits say that voting on this pattern at a general election would lead to a hung Parliament - the last thing that the country would need if the recession were still in force. The Conservatives cannot be surprised that their heady double-digit leads before the Wall Street crisis broke have disappeared. They have not been impressive in Opposition on the economy, seeming uncertain how far their undertaking to support the government in necessary measures inhibited robust criticism. The absence from the debate of Shadow Chancellor George Osborne while sorting out other matters cannot have helped. On the other hand, Labour might have expected a bigger balance in response to Gordon Brown's firm handling of the crisis - the separate poll on public confidence in handling the economy still puts the Brown/Darling team well ahead of Cameron/Osborne.