Liberal Democrats top Friends of the Earth poll on climate change

5.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 25th May 2006

A Friends of the Earth on-line poll today puts the Liberal Democrats far ahead of the other main parties in caring about climate change. Asked 'which of the three main parties cares most about climate change?', nearly 83 per cent of the respondents named the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives were in second place on 12 per cent and Labour on 6 per cent.

The Friends of the Earth poll based on 486 responses follows a poll by ICM for the Guardian based on a sample of 1,006 people which found that the Liberal Democrats were thought to be the party which would do most to protect the environment.

This is the strongest showing on the environment for the Liberal Democrats in recent opinion polling. A similar poll for MORI in April 2005 suggested that 25 per cent of people thought the Liberal Democrats had the best policies to protect the natural environment, against 14 per cent for Labour and 8 per cent for the Tories.

Commenting on the results Chris Huhne MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, said: "Despite David Cameron's efforts to green the Tories, even more voters now recognise that the Liberal Democrats have the track record and the policies to put the environment first."