Local Liberal Democrat MPs may face a tough battle to hang onto their seats after a poll of KU students put them in third place behind Labour and the Tories.

In a narrow poll Labour came top with 27 per cent of the vote and the Tories second with a quarter of the vote, while only 22 per cent said they would vote Liberal Democrat in the general election.

Thousands of students live in the Kingston & Surbiton and Richmond Park consituencies, currently held by Lib Dems Ed Davey and Susan Kramer, and represent a big voting force.

Mr Davey, the Liberal Democrats’ Shadow Foreign Secretary, told The River: “Here we’ve got two Lib Dem MPs but it would be a real setback for the party if Susan and I lost ... I could be out of a job in three months time. I don’t think I will be, but I could be.”

The survey of 275 students across all four campuses and online showed a tight gap of two points between Labour and the Conservatives.

Helen Whately, the Conservative candidate for Kingston, said: “We know the election is going to be close. This constituency is critical. Voters here can't vote one way but hope the rest of the country will do the job of changing the government.”

The Tories have been campaigning hard to paint themselves as the party of ‘change’, and some students said the Conservatives were the best party to replace a stale Labour Government. Ultimately, though, anti-Tory sentiment was just as strong.

Maks Klomnko, First year Civil Engineering said: “The Conservatives don’t see the way forward – the clue’s in the name. They see things in the old way, but we’re in the 21^st century and things need to change.”

Steve Nice, second year fine art, was more explicit in his criticism. He said: “I will vote tactically, because there is no way I want the Tories in power. Their attitude towards society and their individualism is a massive problem.”

Max Freedman, Labour candidate for Kingston, said: “Labour has always been a student-friendly party, and we have appealed to students' idealism ... I hope that Kingston students have the idealism to fight for a better world.”

It was the more pragmatic concern about jobs and the economy, which came out as the most important election issue amongst students, with 31 per cent of the vote.

While male students gave it 41 per cent of their vote, opinion amongst female students was more evenly spread, as health, university and education and the party leaders were all seen as equally important.

There was also little interest in the whole election amongst a significant minority of students, with just under one in six saying they ‘Don’t care’ which party wins.

Kieran Rowe, a motorycle engineering and design student at Roehampton Vale said: “Students have got other things to worry about. You’ve got a lot of work to do and you just want to get on with it, not think about who you’re going to vote for.”