STUDENTS TURN TO THE LIB DEMS

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 27th Jan 2005

Liberal Democrats will get the bulk of the student vote at the general election with freshers most likely to vote against Labour, according to a new poll of students' political views.

The poll, by Opinionpanel Research for the Times Higher Education Supplement of 1,000 students at 160 institutions revealed that 31% would back Liberal Democrats at the next election, 28% Labour and 16% Tories. One in five students said that education and tuition fees were the main factors influencing their voting decision, 12% said the Iraq war and 13% said the economy. This is the second poll in a week to put the Lib Dems ahead among students. A MORI study, published on Tuesday, put the Lib Dems on 34%, the Tories on 19%.

The Tories are lagging behind with just 16% of the vote, down seven percentage points in the past year despite their high-profile attempts to woo the student vote.

The significance of this poll is particularly important in seats with high numbers of students such as Leeds North West which has one of the highest student populations in the country. Greg Mulholland, who is Councillor for Headingley, where most of the students live, is confident the student vote will make the difference in Leeds North West when the election comes, expected on May 5th.

"People talk about student apathy but in my experience there is more student anger; anger at Labour's shameful u-turn on top-up fees after they said in their last manifesto they would not introduce them, anger at the way the country was misled into war in Iraq and anger that Higher Education is rapidly becoming the preserve of the rich."

This poll of students comes after a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times on 23/1/05 which predicted the Liberal Democrats would win Leeds North West. The current MP Harold Best, who voted against the Government on top-up fees, is standing down and the Liberal Democrats now hold all the council seats in the main student populated areas of the seat.

Concludes Greg Mulholland, "The message is simple: If the students come out and vote, and show their opposition to the Government and the way it has let students down, the Liberal Democrats will win here in Leeds North West".