Ipsos G6 Monitor

Tony Blair's standing compared to leaders of the four other major European nations and the USA is poor, according to Ipsos's latest G6 monitor. The survey conducted in February this year shows that just 29% of the UK public are confident in the way the Prime Minister tackles the main issues facing the country -- 69% are not. This is lower than any other countries' leader covered in the poll: Merkel -- Germany (43% confident); Bush -- USA (41%); Zapateor -- Spain (35%); Berlusconi -- Italy (34%) and France -- de Villepin (33%).

The latest results also confirm a competitive electoral battleground between the Conservatives and Labour. When asked "if there were a general election next week, and assuming that only one of the two main parties could win enough seats to form a government, which one of them would you prefer to see win", 41% chose the Conservatives and 37% Labour. Although this question is not measuring voting intentions (for example it does not take into account how turnout or the impact the Liberal Democrats and other parties have on voting) it does provide further evidence that the Conservative party is seen as electable.

The survey provides some comparative good news for the UK government, especially Gordon Brown. More people in the UK than in any other G6 country say that they are confident about their own and their family's standard of living (64%). At the same time, Ipsos's research also shows growing British scepticism about the state of the economy and about the government's policies for improving the economy.

The G6 survey, conducted quarterly in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the USA and the UK, covers several key "state of the nations" indicators, such as the public's confidence in the economy, their standard of living, key national concerns, their government's ability to tackle the key national concerns and attitudes towards the EU. Fieldwork was conducted by telephone with approximately 1,000 citizens in each country.