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Nick Clegg will be kicked out of Parliament in punishment for years spent propping up Tory cuts, selling out students and NHS privatisation, a “bombshell” poll predicted yesterday.
The Lib Dem leader romped home in his Sheffield Hallam constituency with over 50 per cent of the votes in the 2010 general election.
Now a Survation report has found that 30 per cent of those voters are set to abandon Mr Clegg, with his support for health privatisation delivering a fatal polls blow.
With just 89 days left until his reckoning with the voters, he now trails Labour candidate Oliver Coppard by a full 10 per cent.
The research shows a swing to Labour has continued since a November poll put Mr Coppard just 3 per cent behind.
Humiliated Mr Clegg lashed out at the voters’ verdict yesterday, dubbing the result of the independent poll “utter bilge” because it was commissioned by the Unite union.
“Surprise, surprise, the trade union paymasters of the Labour Party come out with a poll which shows the Labour Party is ahead,” he told LBC Radio.
But his Labour rival said his flippant response to huge concern among his own constituents about NHS privatisation could cost him even more votes.
The quality of hospitals and GP services was revealed as their top concern on the day the King’s Fund think tank declared that “damaging” Con-Dem health policies had cost billions.
Mr Coppard told the Star: “People do feel incredibly let down by Nick Clegg and are incredibly concerned about the future of the NHS.
“If he doesn’t understand that that is the feeling on the ground here in Sheffield Hallam, then he’s more out of touch with this community than I thought.”
A massive 80 per cent of Mr Clegg’s constituents also believe the NHS should not be put at risk the EU-US trade deal TTIP, according to the poll.
If guarantees cannot be given that the NHS will remain public, 73 per cent of voters want the government to veto the shadowy privatisation pact.
Unite leader Len McCluskey said: “Nick Clegg backed the Tories over the health sell-off and he’s doing nothing to stop the irreversible privatisation of the NHS because of the TTIP trade deal.
“Only a cast-iron exemption for the NHS from TTIP will protect the health service. It’s time for the Deputy Prime Minister to do some good and demand protection for the NHS.”
The projected collapse in Mr Clegg’s core vote is so severe it would leave him just 1 per cent off being pushed into third by the Tories.
He could be expelled from Parliament on May 7 along with fellow Lib Dem minister Danny Alexander, who must reverse a 29 -point poll deficit to save his Highlands seat.