David Cameron scores well on the economy, tax cuts and immigration

One day after the Prime Minister’s hugely-damaging “bigoted woman” gaffe, three polls handed the Conservative leader a big boost – with the General Election now only six days away.

One survey, by YouGov, made Mr Cameron the clear winner, with 41 per cent of voters believing he put in the best performance, ahead of Nick Clegg on 32 per cent and with Mr Brown trailing on 25 per cent.

Other polls were closer – giving the Tory leader victory by five points and two points, respectively – while a fourth poll, for the Times newspaper, had Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg level pegging.

The debate – on Mr Brown’s favourite topic of the economy – was widely seen as his final chance to rescue his election campaign, after his disastrous encounter with Rochdale grandmother Gillian Duffy.

Mr Clegg also had a difficult evening, put firmly on the defensive over his alleged enthusiasm for joining the euro, and over his plan for a partial amnesty for illegal immigrants – losing some ground.

However, the polls still leave Mr Cameron short of outright victory on May 6, leaving a hung parliament still the most likely outcome.

At the start, the embattled Mr Brown was clearly nervous, stumbling over his words and looking down at his notes frequently, although he later recovered.

He made immediate reference to his blunder yesterday, telling viewers: “There is a lot to this job and, as you saw yesterday, I don’t get all of it right.”

A question urging the leaders to be “honest” about the swingeing spending cuts to come failed to drag out any further details of where the axe will fall – a criticism made of all three parties.

Instead, Mr Clegg repeated his party’s plans for a “£15bn downpayment” towards paying off the deficit, Mr Brown said Labour had a four-year deficit reduction plan and Mr Cameron insisted he had already set out “difficult” cuts.

In the clearest evidence of the Prime Minister’s nerves, Mr Brown made a mistake over his own 50 per cent tax rate for incomes over £150,000, suggesting, wrongly, that it kicked in at £100,000.

The debate brought a heated clash over Conservative plans to make £6bn savings immediately, Mr Brown warning that it marked a return to Tory mistakes of previous decades.

But the Tory leader said: “Every business leader has said that we have got it right and the government, going on wasting money, is wrong.”

The Prime Minister repeatedly attacked Tory plans to deliver an inheritance tax cut to the “3,000 richest families”, but Mr Cameron said it was a “natural” to want to pass on wealth to one’s children.

Again, he accused Mr Brown of “trying to frighten people”, this time over cuts to child tax credits, which he said would affect only families earning more than £50,000.

All the leaders were keen to attack bankers’ bonuses, with Mr Clegg setting out the clearest plans; no bonuses for directors of banks and none at all above £2,500 a year.

With Mr Brown attacking aggressively, Mr Cameron remained calm, turning again on the Lib Dem leader instead.

The debate also opened up a clear divide between Mr Brown, who stressed the importance of government action to rescue the economy, and Mr Cameron, who insisted it was small businesses, who would bring growth.

Some of the fiercest debate was on the issue of immigration, although neither Mr Cameron nor Mr Clegg brought up the “bigoted woman” gaffe.

In their closing statements, Mr Cameron warned: “If you vote Labour, you’re going to get more of the same. If you vote Liberal, as we’ve seen tonight, it’s just uncertainty.”

Mr Clegg said: “If you believe, like I do, that we can do things differently, then together we will change Britain.”

But the most startling comment came from the Prime Minister, who admitted he was losing the campaign, saying: “If things stay as they are, perhaps in eight days’ time, David Cameron, perhaps supported by Nick Clegg, would be in office.”