The Tories have regained their double-digit lead over Labour after Gordon Brown's credit crunch driven bounce stalled, according to a new poll.

Research by Populus for The Times put David Cameron's party up four points on 43%, while Labour dropped two points to 33%.

The boost since last month will reassure nervous Conservatives after a spell when the financial crisis saw the Prime Minister's ratings rally.

However, Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne still trailed their counterparts Mr Brown and Alistair Darling on who was trusted to deal with the downturn.

The Labour team was backed by 38%, compared to 35% who said the Tories would handle the problems better.

The poll - conducted over the weekend - found deep gloom over the state of the economy, with 79% of those questioned saying they expected things to get worse over the next year.

But voters were much less pessimistic about their personal prospects. Half said their situation would deteriorate in 2009, but 46% predicted it would get better.

When asked to rate their worries on a scale of 0-100, rising cost of living came top at 74.5, with tax hikes to pay for higher borrowing next on 72.7.

Falling into negative equity was the bottom choice out of 13 concerns, scoring just 47.3.