London Mayor Ken Livingstone is to make an official complaint against UK polling firm YouGov, following publication of a poll putting him 13 points behind his main rival in the race to retain his job.

YouGov’s latest online survey of 1,003 voters suggests that Tory candidate Boris Johnson has 49% of the vote, while Livingstone is down one point to 36%, However, Livingstone has accused YouGov of using flawed methodology which has over-estimated the number of Londoners aged 55+ and not taken into account the much larger ethnic minority population in the capital.

The Mayor's office made a similar charge against a YouGov poll last week, which put him 10 points behind Johnson. Livingstone complained that the results were ‘implausible’ because the polls had assumed that the proportion of black and Asian voters in London was the same as for the UK as a whole.

A spokesperson for the Mayor, who is seeking a third term in office, commented: ‘These and other mistakes mean YouGov is consistently over estimating support for the Conservatives in London. We clearly reject this poll.’

The spokesperson added that the poll was ‘misleading the public’ and added that the Mayor would be making a formal complaint about ‘basic flaws’.

In response to the complaint YouGov President Peter Kellner said his firm would vigorously defend itself and added that he would be very interested to see which particular rule or code of conduct his firm is supposed to have breached.

The polling firm is online at www.yougov.com .

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