Alistair Darling and the Government have won public backing for the nationalisation of Northern Rock as the legislation cleared its final parliamentary hurdles last night.

A special Populus poll forThe Times shows that half of the public backs nationalisation and supports Mr Darling remaining as Chancellor despite Conservative calls for his resignation.

The poll, undertaken on Wednesday, shows that while nearly three fifths of voters blame the Labour Government for some of the problems at Northern Rock (21 per cent “a great deal” and 37 per cent “somewhat”), more blame the Bank of England and City authorities (64 per cent) and the management of Northern Rock (76 per cent). Two thirds blame financial problems in the American mortgage market and three fifths blame other banks and financial institutions.

The poll will be welcome to Mr Darling and Gordon Brown, especially because voters have put them back ahead of David Cameron and George Osborne as being most trusted to handle economic problems, by 38 to 34 per cent. Men favour the Labour team by 41 to 33 per cent and women are split evenly between the two.

The findings came as the formal nationalisation of the bank neared completion once MPs and peers concluded a parliamentary tussle over attempts by opposition parties to press for greater safeguards.

The passage of the powers through Parliament under an emergency timetable was never in doubt because the Liberal Democrats, who backed the nationalisation of Northern Rock from the outset, sided with Labour to back the Bill in principle and instead focused on seeking more detailed changes.

The Conservatives combined with the Lib Dems in an effort to urge that Northern Rock be subject to formal competition controls, that it should answer to requests under the Freedom of Information Act and that it should submit to a review of its balance sheet.

Now that the Banking (Special Provisions) Bill has received Royal Assent Mr Darling will use its powers to order the immediate transfer of its shares and assets into Government hands.

Mr Darling was accused by Mr Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, of failing to resolve questions about Granite, the offshore trust to which Northern Rock sold more than £40 billion of its more attractive mortgages but which will not be taken into public ownership. He asked why the annual report of the bank described Granite’s companies as “legal subsidiaries”, yet ministers said they were legally independent of the bank.

The Government suffered three defeats in the Lords as the Conservatives and Lib Dems pressed for stronger checks in legislation to enable its nationalisation. Peers backed an amendment requiring an immediate assessment of the value of the bank’s mortgage book and assets and liabilities by independent auditors.

A second defeat, by a still greater margin, followed, demanding that, once in public ownership, Northern Rock should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. A third came as the Lords demanded the Office of Fair Trading be required to monitor and report to Parliament on whether Northern Rock abused its position as a state-owned bank to distort competition by undercutting the rates of other banks and building societies.

But when the Bill returned to the Commons these amendments were overturned by MPs at the behest of Yvette Cooper, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The Lords then gave way.

Ms Cooper confirmed that the Office of Fair Trading would report annually on Northern Rock’s impact on competitiveness in the banking market. However she rejected calls for an independent audit of the balance sheet, saying that its accounts would be published next month.

There were shouts of anger as the minister opposed making the bank subject to requests under the Freedom of Information Act, saying it would not be appropriate to publish details of commercially sensitive information and arguing that Northern Rock would not “perform a public function” within the terms of freedom of information law.

Philip Hammond, for the Conservatives, accused ministers of trying to withhold embarrassing information about decisions to rescue the bank last autumn, when Mr Brown was considering a snap election.

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