VOTERS will punish Labour if it puts balancing the books ahead of fixing public services in its forthcoming Budget, new polling revealed today.

Ministers were warned that they must be “change-makers and not just bookkeepers” as pressure mounted on the government to invest for growth.

According to a YouGov survey, the government’s approval rating would drop by a whopping 28 percentage points among those who switched party to vote for Labour in the July general election if the party managed to reduce debt and deficits but left NHS waiting lists unchanged.