Tories 14 points behind Labour

The Tories have slumped to a 14-point deficit behind Labour, according to an opinion poll.

The survey for the Sunday Express by pollsters Angus Reid puts David Cameron's party on just 29% - compared to 43% for Labour.

The paper said that it represented Labour's biggest lead over theConservatives since December 2002 when Tony Blair was in Downing Street and Iain Duncan Smith was the Tory leader.

The poll findings also make grim reading for Mr Cameron's coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, who are on just 9% - level pegging with the UK Independence Party.

©Press Association

Cameron Running Government Of 'Chums', Finds Mail On Sunday Poll

Most voters believe David Cameron is running a "government of chums", according to a new poll.

Nearly two thirds of adults think members of the Prime Minister's inner circle are there because of who, rather than what, they know, research for the Mail on Sunday found.

David Cameron Leads A Government Of
'Chums' According To A Poll On Sunday

The accusation Mr Cameron packs his Government with "chums", a claim backed by Conservative former Cabinet minister

Norman Tebbit earlier this week, has also struck a chord with the public, according to polling firm Survation.

It found six out of 10 people believed it to be an accurate description.

Mr Cameron's privileged upbringing also remains steadfast in the minds of voters.

When asked to pick from two photographs - one showing the PM in his Oxford University Bullingdon Club days and another of him dressed in jeans drinking a pint of beer in a pub - which identified the "real David Cameron" the student picture was selected by 63% of those surveyed.

Four out of 10 believe Mr Cameron is a "snob" while nearly three quarters of adults believe the Conservative Party is out of touch.

Three times as many voters would rather have dinner with Mayor of London Boris Johnson than Mr Cameron.

More than a quarter of voters backed shadow chancellor Ed Balls as the man who would get the best bargain at a car boot sale while just 13% backed Chancellor George Osborne.

But the results are also disappointing for Labour, which sees it on 35, reducing its eight-point margin over the Tories from two weeks ago.

©Huffington Post

GPs 'losing faith' in NHS reforms

Confidence among GPs that the Government's NHS reforms will improve patient care has almost halved since they were first proposed, an opinion poll has shown.

Only around one in eight (12%) now expects health service users to be better off as a result compared with nearly a quarter (23%) two months after the blueprint was published in July 2010.

More than half (55%) said care would not improve, with 33% not expressing an opinion either way in the survey by ComRes by the BBC.

Just 12 per cent of GPs expect health
service users to be better off as a result of
NHS reforms proposed by Andrew Lansley, says poll

Legislation putting the shake-up into effect finally became law last week after a turbulent passage through parliament that saw it significantly rewritten amid hostility from many health professionals.

But ministers are braced for a continued battle as the measures - which include putting control of up to £80 billion of commissioning into the hands of local consortia of GPs from April 2013 - are put into effect.

The poll of 814 GPs showed 83% also feared financial pressures will lead to more rationing of care.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said: "If those who will have to deliver the latest health reforms are unconvinced and reluctant, the Government should take notice of what they say," he said.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "Any hopes he had that the concerns of NHS professionals would now subside are blown out of the water by this. Instead, GPs are clearly worried about the future of the NHS, warning of longer waits, service rationing and creeping privatisation.

"Many will lay responsibility for these things directly at the Prime Minister's door."

The poll interviews were carried out between March 21-30.

©Press Assosiation

Poll: Voters 'Blame Government For Fuel Panic'

Four out of five voters blame the Government for the panic-buying of fuel that prompted disruption across the UK, according to an opinion poll.

The ComRes poll for The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror also found 72% of the 1,127 adults questioned online said the coalition was "out of touch with ordinary people".

News of the poll emerged as receding fears of fuel shortages saw queues shortening on the country's petrol station forecourts.

Poll: Voters 'Blame
Government For Fuel Panic'

Motoring organisations and petrol retailers said demand had eased after the Government reversed its advice that drivers fill up if their tanks drop below two-thirds full.

The new recommendation that motorists should not queue at petrol stations came after Unite , the union representing 2,000 fuel tanker drivers, ruled out the threat of strikes over Easter.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "There is no urgency to top up your tank, a strike will not happen over Easter."

The AA said demand had fallen dramatically since the new advice was issued.

"Panic buying has dramatically dropped," a spokesman said.

"I think where there has been a problem, it has been waiting for petrol stations to be replenished and some drivers have interpreted that as a continued problem."

A spokeswoman for BP also reported a fall in demand following the new Government advice.

"There is less demand on forecourts," she said.

"However there is still above normal demand. We are making deliveries as quickly as possible to sites and are working 24/7 to get fuel to sites that are running or have run out."


©SKY NEWS