Budget leak blamed for poor Labour poll showing

The so-called "boring Budget" seems to have made voters lose interest in Labour, with National opening a sizeable lead in the latest One News/Colmar Brunton poll.

The poll puts party vote support for National at 47 per cent, up 2 per cent from a March poll.

Labour has slipped 4 per cent to 38 per cent, while the Greens - down 2 per cent to 5 per cent - are the only other party to poll above the 5 per cent MMP threshold to return MPs to Parliament.

New Zealand First polled 4 per cent - up 2 per cent - and the Maori Party stayed steady on 3 per cent. No other party polled above 1.4 per cent.

In further bad news for the Government, more people now disapprove of its performance than approve. Approval fell 6 per cent to 42 per cent; disapproval has risen 7 per cent to 43 per cent.

The Budget set out substantial spending in roading, policing and health, but failed to deliver the one thing Opposition politicians claimed New Zealanders wanted - tax cuts.

Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains her primacy in the preferred Prime Minister poll. Although dropping 1 per cent to 37 per cent, she is still comfortably ahead of National leader Don Brash.

Dr Brash's middling performance - strong in attacking Labour for not delivering tax cuts but weak in a fumbled press conference where he had to ask a reporter for a copy of an email he was commenting on - has not overly affected his poll ratings, down 1 per cent to 18 per cent.

But his party's finance spokesman, John Key, has registered a notable gain in the preferred Prime Minister ratings, up 3 per cent to 8 per cent.

Helen Clark made no comment.

However, it is understood the leaking of one of the main Budget announcements - the planned freeing up of telecommunications regulations - and subsequent hunt for the man who had leaked the confidential Cabinet documents - was being largely blamed for the poor poll result.

Dr Brash said it was a very pleasing poll result for his party. "What it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt is that New Zealanders have had enough of Labour's arrogant attitude to tax."

He was not surprised by rise in support for Mr Key, as the party's finance spokesman got a lot of media exposure at Budget time.

"I feel totally secure in my leadership. The caucus is strongly behind me."

The poll questioned 1200 eligible voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 per cent.