Poll boost for Tories

Two opinion polls have suggested that Labour and the Tories are running neck and neck in the wake of the fuel crisis.

One of them, conducted by MORI for the News of the World, gives the Conservatives a two-point lead - the first time that has been the case since 1992.

The other, by NOP in The Sunday Times, puts the two parties level.

The polls are among the first published following last week's mass protests over the level of duty on fuel.

Labour took its eight year poll lead over the Conservatives after the pound crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992.

The MORI poll puts the Tories on 38%, Labour on 36% with the Liberal Democrats on 18%. The NOP survey puts Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck on 37%, with the Lib Dems also benefiting from Labour's woes on 21%.

Also worrying for the government is the number of voters who said that they found the prime minister out of touch with the public, while the chancellor is seen by over 70% of voters to be to blame for the high fuel prices.

The government has been arguing that the high prices are a result of the increase in world oil prices.

Responding to the polls, Tory leader William Hague said: "I never place too much importance on opinion polls, but I think it's true that the Conservative Party has gained a great deal of ground and that Labour Party are paying the price for arrogance and complacency and broken promises."

'Things have gone wrong'

Speaking for Labour, the leader of the Commons, Margaret Beckett, told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost programme that the fuel crisis was to blame for the shock poll results.

"It will be interesting to see what opinion polls are saying in other European countries.

"Without in any way diminishing the importance of these public reactions, maybe there's an element of saying, things have gone wrong, we don't like it, and blame the government, and that's what's happening right across Europe," she said.

The balance of power

As well as being very encouraging for the Conservatives the polls - especially the figures in the Sunday Times - are a boost for the Lib Dems who start their annual conference in Bournemouth on Sunday.

The NOP poll which puts Charles Kennedy's party on 21% raises the prospect that the Liberal Democrats could hold the balance of power after an election if the pollsters figures are borne out.

The Lib Dems have consistently made clear that they prefer to work with Labour rather than the Conservatives, and are already in a coalition government with Labour in Scotland.