Business backs Brown and Darling

Alistair Darling's ratings among Britain's business leaders have risen to an all-time high, while confidence in his Tory shadow, George Osborne, has sunk to a new low.

A ComRes survey for The Independent shows that the Chancellor has recovered ground among business leaders, rising from his disastrously low "confidence rating" of just 9 per cent after he presented his Budget this spring to 27 per cent now, as he prepares to deliver a mini-Budget designed to limit the impact of the downturn on Monday.

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The poll of business people found that confidence in Mr Osborne has fallen from 52 per cent to 34 per cent over the same period. The shadow Chancellor's response to the downturn has been criticised as lacklustre by some Tory critics.

Similarly, confidence in Gordon Brown has risen from 18 per cent in April to 39 per cent now, while David Cameron's confidence rating has dropped from 67 per cent to 54 per cent.

Although the Tory leadership is still more trusted by business people than the Prime Minister and Chancellor, the momentum since the financial crisis began is clearly with Mr Brown and Mr Darling, who are on course to overtake their opposite numbers.

ComRes found that business leaders blame the banking industry for the downturn in Britain. Some 46 per cent of the 233 polled believe the banks are most responsible, while 22 per cent blame governments, 13 per cent regulators, 12 per cent financial speculators and 1 per cent individual borrowers.

Business leaders think the most effective measure to counter the downturn would be a cut in direct taxes (90 per cent), followed by a reduction in indirect taxes such as VAT (81 per cent). A Tory proposal for lower national insurance payments for companies taking on the jobless are backed by 51 per cent of business people and a government proposal to boost public spending by 54 per cent. Yesterday Mr Osborne went on the attack as official figures showed the worst public borrowing figures for 14 years. The Government borrowed a net £1.4bn last month, taking the total since April to £37bn, double the figure for the same period last year.

In his Budget, Mr Darling predicted a £43bn total for the entire financial year. The Tories said yesterday's figures put the Government on course to borrow a record-breaking £67bn. "Gordon Brown's failure to prepare Britain means that borrowing has reached record levels before we've seen the worst of the downturn and before he embarks on a further borrowing binge," said Mr Osborne.

Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor who some Tory MPs want to take on the shadow role, rallied to Mr Osborne's defence, saying the younger man was being "targeted in a personalised political campaign". He added: "I think my name is being used as part of this attempt to undermine George."

Urging Mr Cameron not to move Mr Osborne, Mr Clarke said that to do so would be a "serious political mistake" and "a triumph for opponents of the Conservative Party".

But the Tories' troubles continued. Justine Greening, a member of Mr Osborne's frontbench team, admitted the Opposition was struggling to be heard. "Because it's being very packed in the media we haven't had the opportunity to get our message across," she said. "There's no whispering campaign against George Osborne."

John Maples, a Tory deputy chairman, apologised for saying on Monday that the recession should "take its course". He told the House of Commons yesterday: "I realise I may have caused offence to people who are the victims of the recession. I regret that. What I meant, and what I believe, is that the economy cannot recover until levels of private debt have been reduced. I do not believe, and I did not mean to convey the impression, that the Government should not help victims of the recession. I fully support borrowing to do that."

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, said yesterday that the economy was now on a "war footing" and anything less than a £30bn cash injection would be "tokenism". He called for swingeing tax cuts equivalent to 4p in the pound, which he said would be worth £16bn to £18bn, coupled with a huge boost to public spending.