Full results of YouGov poll for The Sunday Times

VOTERS’ gloom about the economy and a series of “rip-off” price rises has turned them against Gordon Brown’s government again.

After the Conservative lead narrowed to five points over the Christmas period, a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times shows it has now doubled to 10 points.

David Cameron’s Tories are on 43%, Labour has 33% and the Liberal Democrats, under their new leader Nick Clegg, are on 14%. The Tories are up by three points, Labour is down two and the Lib Dems are down one.

Although the poll shows the parties are roughly back to where they were in mid-December, when Cameron’s party enjoyed a 13-point lead, it also confirms that the prime minister has yet to put his troubles of the final weeks of last year behind him.

Much of that is explained by gloom over the economy. All but a small proportion of people think Britain is heading for a year of slower growth or worse. More than a fifth, 22%, think there will be a recession while 21% think the economy will not grow at all.

By 41% to 14% people think their family’s finances will worsen this year, and by 32% to 27% they expect house prices to fall. They also mistrust figures showing inflation to be roughly 2%, based on the government’s consumer prices index. Nearly four-fifths, 79%, think inflation is “somewhat” or “significantly” higher than 2%.

This is because of a string of big price rises that have been announced or are on the way. With the exception of the supermarkets, who people now think offer a good deal to shoppers, there is an overwhelming sense that households are being “ripped off” across the board.

A net 85% of people think they are being overcharged by energy firms, who are raising gas and electricity bills, while 76% feel the same about rail companies, who have just raised fares by up to 14.5%.

Other “rip-off” groups include petrol firms, 74%; banks and financial service providers, 59%; dentists, 48%; and local government, 62%.

Last week the Tories unveiled a plan to crack down on people paid incapacity benefit, and this appears to have chimed with voters. By 84% to 9%, they favour subjecting claimants to check on their fitness for work.

One of Brown’s policies is also favoured by voters. The decision to push ahead with new nuclear power stations is backed by more than two to one; 59% to 27%, a sharp shift compared with two years ago, when nuclear was opposed by a similar margin

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