And the blues and reds are now level pegging

There’s a new ComRes telephone poll out for tomorrow’s Independent which sees the Tories up one and Labour down one so that they are now level-pegging on 38%. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, move up 2 from the last such poll at the end of November. The changes are, of course, within the margin of error.

Note that comparisons are with previous ComRes phone polls and NOT the firm’s online polling.

All the fieldwork took place after the news from Brussels came out and this is the first telephone poll to report.

The Tories will be pleased to have moved upwards while the Lib Dems will be reassured that the impact of their post-summit confusion has been positive rather than, as might have been expected, negative.

Maybe this is simply down to the party getting so much news coverage?

Asked whether the Government should not increase public borrowing any further and should pay off the nation’s deficit as soon as possible, 74% agree and 18%. A majority of LAB voters (58%) endorse this approach, as do 73% of Lib Dem supporters and 87% of CON supporters.

ComRes also asked people whether the Government should borrow more in the short term to increase economic growth even if it means reducing the deficit more slowly – broadly in line with Labour’s approach. Some 49% agree but 40% disagree.

The poll found that the public are much more upbeat about their own prospects for 2012 than for the country as a whole. Some 68% describe themselves as optimistic about their own prospects, while 28% disagree. However, only 34% are optimistic about the UK’s prospects for next year, while 60% are not.

UPDATE: YouGov has the Tories with a 2 point lead

Tonight’s YouGov daily poll is out and has CON 41%: LAB 39%: LD 10%.

This is the first Tory lead from the online pollster in a year.

The PB Prize Feltham by-election competition: Just a reminder that entries close at 11pm. Just click here.

Mike Smithson @MikeSmithsonOGH