Voters lose trust in government ; The Government will face fresh questions over the loss of millions of voters' personal data today amid a massive slump in public confidence.

The Government will face fresh questions over the loss ofmillions of voters' personal data today amid a massive slump inpublic confidence.

One poll showed those backing Labour's ability to handle economicproblems had been more than halved to 28%, with just a quarterdeeming Gordon Brown's administration "competent and capable"

And another gave the Tories a nine-point overall lead, itsstrongest position for 15 years, just weeks after Labour enjoyed an11-point advantage in the same poll.

The revelation on Tuesday that two CDs containing theinformation, including bank details, had failed to reach theNational Audit Office in London after being sent through HM Revenueand Customs' internal post system sparked fears they could fall intothe hands of fraudsters.

The Opposition seized on the release of Whitehall emails aboutthe transfer of 25 million individuals' personal details to pilefurther pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling.

Tories said the exchanges cast fresh doubt on Mr Darling's claimsthat the loss of the database was down to a junior official ignoringproper procedures.

The emails, released by the NAO, showed the NAO had only askedthe HMRC to send limited details from its database - stripping outinformation such as bank account numbers.

A covering letter said a senior HMRC manager was copied in toanother email rejecting the request to remove the data as this wouldinvolve additional costs.