Five years after Tony Blair assumed power to the tune of "Things can only get better" an ICM poll for the Mirror and GMTV finds that 40 per cent believe Britain has got worse under Labour.

With crime topping the list of public discontents, 62 per cent of voters say the government has done a bad job.

Just as worrying for the prime minister are the poll findings that 68 per cent think he travels too much and 43 per cent of people trust him less than in 1997.

Some 51 per cent of those surveyed said Labour's performance was "about what expected" and 49 per cent believed that Blair had done "quite well".

The Mirror's editorial concludes that after the heady days of 1997's "tidal wave of optimism" it is time to rebuild trust with the British people.