Voters don't trust Ed to run UK plc: Less than one in four trusts Labour leader on economy after lacklustre Budget response

Fewer than one in four voters say they trust Labour leader to run economy

Support for Miliband dropped 10 points since January to 23 per cent

21 per cent said the Budget had reduced their trust in his economic ability



One in four voters trust Miliband to run the economy, a survey shows

Ed Miliband’s economic credibility took another tumble yesterday after his lacklustre response to the Budget.

A new survey found that fewer than one in four voters say they trust the Labour leader to run the economy.

Mr Miliband’s support has dropped 10 points since January to 23 per cent while 21 per cent said the Budget had reduced their trust in his ability to manage the economy. Mr Miliband polls even worse than his party with 31 per cent of voters backing Labour to run UK Plc.

The telephone survey of 1,600 voters after the Budget by public affairs firm Edelman found that 37 per cent trust the Tories and 23 per cent said the Budget had increased their trust in Conservatives to manage the economy.

The data came amid growing disquiet among Labour MPs that Mr Miliband and shadow Chancellor Ed Balls have now botched their response to the Budget and George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last December.

There were also signs of tension between the two men yesterday after Mr Balls said Mr Miliband had a ‘difficult’ time because he relied on Twitter to predict the contents of the Budget and revealed that he had spent much of Mr Osborne’s speech trying to wake up Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

An ally of Ed Miliband told the Mail: ‘We always knew it was going to be a difficult Budget with the economy on the turn. It was not made easier by Ed Balls.’



Another said ‘the problem’ for Labour is that ‘we don’t have a strong enough economic policy’ - a barely coded jibe at Mr Balls.

Friends of the shadow chancellor claimed he wanted to go further in contesting the Budget but was overruled by Mr Miliband, who used well-worn attacks on Mr Cameron’s Etonian background and membership of the Oxford University Bullingdon Club rather than respond to the Chancellor’s announcements in his speech.

Support for Mr Miliband pictured during a visit to the Rosyth Dockyard, Dunfermline, has dropped 10 points since January to 23 per cent while 21 per cent said the Budget had reduced their trust in his ability to manage the economy

A Labour MP summed up mood of frustration about Mr Miliband’s performance on the backbenches: ‘The best you can say is that it was better than Ed Balls’ awful speech after the last Autumn Statement. I’ve no idea why he didn’t talk about anything that was actually in the Budget.’



Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it seemed as if Mr Miliband had been “thinking about the football for an hour” instead of listening to what Mr Osborne was saying.

Former Lib Dem minister Jeremy Browne said: ‘His speech was the worst speech I have ever seen in the House of Commons.’ ‘I want to have an intelligent critique of the budget and the state of the public finances, rather than lots of shouting about which clubs at Oxford University he did or did not belong to, and which ones David Cameron didn’t do.