Tory lead drops to 6% in ICM poll for News of the World - but YouGov has it increasing to 7%

Tomorrow's News of the World carries an ICM poll showing the Conservative lead having fallen 3 points since the ICM poll for the Guardian at the beginning of the week, and now standing at 6%.

The parties' standings are: 

In advance of Wednesday's Budget, just 17% of people say they want to see tax rises, with 44% saying they should stay the same and 34% want tax cuts.

However, only 22% of voters say that Alistair Darling's announcements will help them make up their mind on how to vote come the general election, with 77% saying it will make no difference. The poll of 1,002 voters was carried out on Wednesday and Thursday.

7.45pm update:

YouGov daily tracker numbers for the Sunday Times are out and show the Tory lead increasing 3 points to 7%:

The YouGov poll was conducted more recently than the ICM poll, so the hard-hitting Conservative message on Labour and the Unite strike would appear to have had some impact.

Jonathan Isaby