ONE of Gordon Brown's Cabinet ministers today said the Government must admit it has made mistakes if it wants to reconnect with the public.
The warning came as an opinion poll gave Labour its worst ever rating, a massive 26 points behind the Tories. Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary John Denham said Labour's reluctance to acknowledge failings has led to public scepticism. He
added that unless ministers acknowledged errors had been made, the public would not believe they would get it right in the future.
Meanwhile, the divide between Mr Brown and Wendy Alexander over the Scottish Labour leader's call for an early independence referendum showed no signs of healing.
The YouGov survey for the Sun newspaper put the Tories on 49 per cent with Labour on just 23 per cent, its lowest score since records began in the 1930s, and the Lib Dems on 17 per cent.
Labour's rating is even lower than the share of the vote it received in last week's local elections in England and Wales, when it lost hundreds of seats and saw Boris Johnson beat Ken Livingstone to become London mayor.
And the poll findings are bad news for Mr Brown and his party ahead of the by-election in Crewe and Nantwich on May 22, which the Conservatives hope to win.
Tory leader David Cameron fired off another letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, highlighting the inconsistencies in his comments and those of Ms Alexander on the referendum issue.
Mr Cameron said: "Either you have been completely unclear and misleading in your replies to my questions, or you have lost control of your party – or perhaps it is a combination of the two."
Ms Alexander made clear at First Minister's Questions yesterday she is determined to press ahead with her demand for the SNP to bring forward the referendum.
But Stagecoach boss Brian Souter, who gave the SNP £500,000 towards last year's election campaign, rejected Ms Alexander's claims that waiting till 2010 for a referendum meant two years of uncertainty for businesses.
He said: "I don't think there is a feeling of uncertainty around. The short and medium-term horizons are quite clear. The longer-term constitutional issue has always existed."
And John Loughton, president of the Scottish Youth Parliament and winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, also appeared to criticise Ms Alexander.
He said it was the "fundamental duty" of the opposition to put forward a clear and consistent message as an alternative to the government.
"Sadly that has not happened through various changes in stance from the Labour Party."
The full article contains 438 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
