Prime Minister Gordon Brown was buoyed by a poll showing Labour narrowing the gap on the Conservatives ahead of the key May 1 round of local elections.
The ICM poll for the Guardian puts support for Labour on 34%, up five points from a similar survey last month. The Tories are down three points to 39% and the Liberal Democrats down two to 19%.
Carried out during the weekend, as Mr Brown returned from his three-day visit to the US, the survey suggests that the PM may be making headway in convincing critics of his handling of current economic turbulence and the abolition of the 10p bottom band of income tax.
The overall Tory lead of five points is down dramatically from the 13% advantage enjoyed by David Cameron's party in the same survey in March and is the smallest margin between the two main parties recorded for more than a month.
Some 55% of those questioned said they were confident about their personal financial situation - up seven points from February, when the question was last asked.
The proportion saying they were not confident was down six points to 44%.
Although those surveyed did not wholeheartedly back Alistair Darling, more than a quarter (26%) said he was the best Chancellor of the three main parties while only a fifth (20%) picked his Tory shadow George Osborne and 13% chose the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable.
:: ICM Research interviewed 1,000 adults by telephone between April 18 and 20.
