Some 75 percent of the 2,400 people surveyed said they did not trust
ministers to tell them the truth about the safety of food, nuclear
installations or genetically modified crop trials.

Saturday November 11 7:50 PM ET
 Many Britons See Lying, Cronyism in Govt--Poll

 LONDON (Reuters) - Most Britons think Prime Minister Tony Blair (news -
web sites)'s Labor  government is riddled with cronyism and lies to them
about key safety issues for the sake of business, according to a new
poll published on Sunday.

 The Sunday Times' ICM poll found 92 percent of British public thought
ministerial lying was a problem, while 88 percent thought Labor was
tainted by financial sleaze.

 Labour's lead over the main opposition Conservatives has shrunk to just
three percentage points. The poll found that 39 percent of those
questioned support Labor compared with 36 percent backing the Tories.

 That compares with 40 percent for Labor and 34 percent for the
Conservatives according to an ICM poll published earlier this week.

 ``Public confidence in Blair and his ministers is scarcely higher than
in (former Conservative Prime Minister) John Major's profoundly
unpopular, distrusted and sleaze-ridden administration,'' the paper
cited poll designer Professor Patrick Dunleavy of the London School of
Economics as saying.

 Some 75 percent of the 2,400 people surveyed said they did not trust
ministers to tell them the truth about the safety of food, nuclear
installations or genetically modified crop trials.

 Some 49 percent thought Britain was becoming less democratic under the
Labor government.