Poll shows Labour still Rock with voters after bank panic

LABOUR'S popularity with voters has increased despite the Northern Rock crisis, a new opinion poll showed today.

The ICM survey found Labour support up one point to the symbolic 40 per cent level which usually gives parties confidence ahead of an election.

The same poll showed Tory leader David Cameron had become Britain's least popular party leader, with an approval rating below that of both Gordon Brown and the Liberal Democrats' Sir Ming Campbell.

And another poll found public trust in the Government hardly shaken by the Northern Rock panic.

In that Populus survey, 56 per cent of people said they trusted Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling, down just five points since earlier this month, while only 18 per cent trusted David Cameron and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, down nine points.

And most voters blamed the Northern Rock crisis either on financial problems in the American mortgage market, or the bank's own management, rather than the Government.

The findings of both polls are a boost for Mr Brown. The ICM poll for The Guardian gave Labour an eight point lead over the Tories - 40 per cent to 32 - with the Lib Dems on 20 per cent.

That would be enough to give Labour around 380 seats and an increased Commons majority.

It is the largest lead ICM has given Labour since Mr Cameron became Tory leader in 2005, after a series of other surveys which put the two parties neck and neck.

Until now, Mr Cameron has been seen as an asset for his party, but the Tories are two points down in the latest poll compared with last month.

ICM found just 37 per cent of all voters now say they are satisfied with the way Mr Cameron is doing his job, against 45 per cent who are dissatisfied - a net approval rating of minus-eight.

By contrast, the Prime Minister had an approval rating of plus-32, with 55 per cent of voters saying they are happy with the way he has performed since his arrival in 10 Downing Street in June, against 23 per cent who say they are not.

And Sir Ming, whose leadership has been under attack, came in at minus-five - 36 per cent saying they were satisfied and 41 per cent dissatisfied.

Mr Cameron also scored the lowest approval rating of any of three leaders with their own voters. He had an overall satisfaction score of plus-25 among Tory voters, compared with Mr Brown's plus-73 among Labour voters and Sir Ming's plus-48 among Lib Dems.

The panic surrounding the troubled Newcastle-based bank appears to have subsided following the Chancellor's decision to guarantee the deposits of savers.

A Populus poll found 86 per cent of those questioned had a great deal, or a moderate amount, of trust in their bank or building society to protect their savings.

And 48 per cent said they expected house prices to rise over the next year while just 15 per cent said they would fall.

ICM questioned 1005 adults by telephone between September 13 and 16. Populus conducted 504 interviews on September 17.

Pension group furious at move to bail out bank

THE Government has been accused of double standards by investors who lost up to half their pensions and savings when Equitable Life nearly collapsed six years ago.

The Government refused to bail them out, despite acting within days to underwrite the savings of Northern Rock customers this week.

More than a million Equitable Life policyholders lost out when a House of Lords ruling on pension guarantees blew a £1.5 billion hole in the insurer's finances, forcing it to close to new business.

The Treasury refused to accept responsibility for the situation.

A parliamentary ombudsman's report on the debacle is due next year.

Paul Braithwaite, general manager of the Equitable Members Action Group, said members were furious at the Government's guarantees for Northern Rock savers.

He said: "We've been stonewalled for six years and Northern Rock, with its highly dubious business model, gets dealt with in a few days.

"What's the difference? An election's looming this time, that's what."