State of Britain in 2004

New research for the Financial Times shows the mountain the Conservative party and its leader Michael Howard has to climb before the next general election. Most people do not believe there would be better public services and lower taxes under a future Conservative government, with just in five people (21%) thinking public services would improve and 15% thinking taxes would be lower. A third (32%) believes Tony Blair would make the best Prime Minister, compared to a fifth (21%) who pick Howard.

Technical Details

• Results are based on 1,003 interviews conducted by telephone with a sample of residents aged 16+ across Great Britain.
• Interviews were conducted between 30 July - 1 August 2004.
• Data are weighted by gender, age, class, region, work status and tenure to the known profile of Great Britain.
• Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to multiple responses, computer rounding or the exclusion of 'don't know/not stated' response categories.

Q1 Who do you think would make the most capable Prime Minister -- Mr Blair, Mr Howard or Mr Kennedy?

Q2 Which political party do you think has the best team of leaders to deal with the country's problems?

Q3 Which political party do you think has the best policies for the country as a whole?

Q4 If the Conservatives were to win the next General Election, do you think that public services would improve, get worse or stay the same?

Q5 If the Conservatives were to win the next General Election, do you think that the overall level of taxation would be higher, lower or about the same?