The British public is losing faith in Gordon Brown’s stewardship of the economy and as a successor to Tony Blair, according to a new poll for The Sunday Times (click to read full results).

More people now think he has done a bad, rather than a good, job as chancellor, while the public, by a two-to-one majority, believe he is not fit to be prime minister following last week’s row over pensions.

The YouGov poll shows that the Conservative lead is now eight points, up from six in the equivalent poll a month ago, with the Tories on 39% (up one) and Labour 31% (down one). The Liberal Democrats are unchanged on 16%.

However, it is the details of the poll, carried out since the budget and the revelations that Brown ignored Treasury warnings about his 1997 £5 billion annual pension tax “raid”, that will be most worrying for the chancellor. By 10 points, 38% to 28%, the Conservatives have established their biggest lead so far on which party is most likely to improve voters’ standard of living.

A month ago, people thought Brown had done a good job as chancellor, by 51% to 41%. Now 41% say he has been a good chancellor, against 52% who think he has been bad. Asked whether he was fit to be prime minister in the light of the row over pensions, only 27% said he was, compared with 57% who said he was not. Even among Labour supporters, only two-thirds thought he was fit to be prime minister.

The poll shows that while Brown remains the favourite to move into No 10, potential challengers are making up ground. Of those who declared a view, 43% named Brown as their preferred Labour leader, followed by 31% for David Miliband, the environment secretary, and 14% for Charles Clarke, the former home secretary. But Brown out-scored Miliband by five to one among Labour supporters.

Brown’s hopes of presenting himself as a fresh alternative to Blair also appear to be fading. Only 11% of people think he will make a better prime minister than Blair, while 38% think he will be worse. That is also the view, by 32% to 18%, of Labour voters.

With the English regional, Scottish and Welsh elections approaching in May, an analysis for The Sunday Times by Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre shows that Labour is doing even worse at local level than in the latest national opinion poll.

Their computer projection, based on the latest survey of local government by-elections, gives the Tories a national equivalent vote share of 38%, well ahead of the Lib Dems on 30%. Labour trails badly behind them both with just 24%. If replicated in the local elections on May 3, this could see the party losing another 500 seats.

This poor showing for Labour in England is expected to be matched in the Scottish parliament elections where based on recent polls, Rallings and Thrasher predict that the Scottish National party will gain more than 50 seats, deposing Labour and putting Scottish independence firmly on the agenda.

Footie fat cats

Professional footballers are Britain’s biggest “fat cats”, according to the Sunday Times-YouGov poll. They were singled out as the most overpaid people in a list that included City traders, company directors, television presenters, doctors and lawyers, writes David Smith.

Nearly two-thirds of people, 64%, said footballers were the most overpaid, followed by directors of large companies (12%), City traders (8%) and politicians (7%).

A survey last year said the average basic salary for a Premiership footballer was £676,000, or £13,000 a week. This is typically augmented by an additional 60-100% in bonuses.

Footballers’ pay has been boosted by television rights and overseas money flooding into the game, including Roman Abramovich’s takeover of Chelsea.

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