Poll blames Brown for data fiasco

The Tories' lead is the biggest in such a survey since 1992.

The poll, carried out by YouGov, puts the Tories on 41 per cent and Labour on 32 per cent. The Lib Dems, in the middle of their leadership contest, are still languishing on 14.

And the poll shows that one in two people blames Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling for the loss of child benefit data.

Asked who is to blame for the loss of the discs, containing personal information for 25m people, 49 per cent blamed the prime minister and 56 per cent blamed the chancellor, Alastair Darling.

But more people attached blame to the junior official who had sent out the discs. 81 per cent said that official was to blame, and 77 pointed the finger at Paul Gray, the chairman of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, who resigned last week.

A key factor in eroding the Conservatives' poll lead in the 1992 was Black Wednesday, when the pound's disastrous exit from the European exchange rate mechanism ruined the Tories' reputation for economic competence.

The debacle at the HMRC office in Tyne and Wear has not yet done similar damage to Labour. It still enjoys a narrow lead over the Conservatives on the question of economic competence.

Asked how competent they are (or would be) at running the economy, 51 per cent gave Brown and Darling a "very competent" or "fairly competent" rating. Only 46 per cent gave David Cameron and his shadow chancellor George Osborne the same rating.

The poll was conducted by YouGov for Channel 4 News on 21-22 November. They surveyed 1600 adults.

The poll comes as it has been revealed that a senior manager in the revenue and customs department was copied into one of the emails written by a junior official to the National Audit Office, saying the department did not want to "over-burden the business" by filtering out some of the most sensitive details in the files.

Channel 4 News/YouGov poll findings

All GB adults	1600
Unweighted sample	1600

Headline voting intention

Conservative	41
Labour	32
Lib Dem	14
Other	13

Other parties voting intention

SNP/PC	4
Green	3
BNP	3
UKIP	2
Respect	0
Other	1

How much do you blame the following for this?

The junior official at HM Revenue & Customs who sent out the two discs

Blame a lot	50
Blame to some extent	31
Don't blame much	9
Don't blame at all	5
Don't know	6

Paul Gray, head of HMRC, who resigned this week

Blame a lot	35
Blame to some extent	42
Don't blame much	13
Don't blame at all	4
Don't know	6

Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer

Blame a lot	26
Blame to some extent	30
Don't blame much	24
Don't blame at all	15
Don't know	7

Gordon Brown, the prime minister

Blame a lot	25
Blame to some extent	24
Don't blame much	20
Don't blame at all	25
Don't know	7

Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer

Blame a lot	26
Blame to some extent	30
Don't blame much	24
Don't blame at all	15
Don't know	7

How competent at running the economy?

Gordon Brown, the prime minister, and Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer

Very competent	15
Fairly competent	36
Fairly incomptent	23
Very incompetent	19
Don't know	8

David Cameron, Conservative party leader, and George Osborne, shadow chancellor

Very competent	9
Fairly competent	37
Fairly incomptent	24
Very incompetent	13
Don't know	16

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