Labour 'better off' under Blair

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Conservatives outstripped Gordon Brown's Labour by 40% to 35% when voters were asked who they would support in an election.

But the parties were neck-and-neck on 37% when they were asked who they would back if Mr Blair was Prime Minister.

The BPIX poll for the Mail on Sunday will come as a blow to Mr Brown, just five months after he replaced Mr Blair amid claims that the long-serving PM had become an electoral liability to the party.

A rash of polls suggested that the recent run of crises to hit the Government has damaged Gordon Brown's standing with voters and wiped out Labour's reputation as the best party to handle the economy.

The 12-point lead over the Tories which Labour enjoyed on managing the economy just two months ago has been erased, with the two parties now neck-and-neck on 38%, according to an MSL survey for the News of the World.

The poll suggested that a majority of those questioned now regard Labour as being bad at handling a crisis and believe the Government has dealt badly with the credit crunch at Northern Rock.

And in the wake of the loss of 25 million people's personal details by HM Revenue and Customs, a slim majority (49% to 47%) said that Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling should quit.

When Northern Rock's difficulties first became public over the summer, Mr Brown's poll ratings suggested he was seen as a "safe pair of hands" in a crisis.

But the recent revelation that as much as £25 billion has now been lent to the ailing bank appears to have dented this image. Some 46% of those questioned by MSL said the Government was bad at handling a crisis, against 42% who rated it good. More than half (54%) said ministers had handled Northern Rock badly.