OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's opposition Labour Party has increased its lead over the government, a poll showed on Thursday, as voters punish the ruling coalition for a budget seen as cutting taxes for the richest and scrapping benefits for the poorest.
The centre-right minority government has been widely criticised for reducing welfare spending, such as benefits to the families of disabled children, while cutting the wealth tax.
"There is no doubt that (after) the autumn we have had, including the budget turmoil, we're not coming out of this very well," Prime Minister and Conservative leader Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK, which commissioned the poll.
Support for Labour, which was voted out of office last year after eight straight years in power, rose 1.9 percentage points to 42.8 percent, almost enough to form a government on its own and more than enough to form a coalition with its allies if elections were held now.
Solberg's Conservatives took the biggest hit, with its support down by 2.3 percentage points to 21.5 percent. Support for their coalition ally, the populist Progress Party, rose 1.3 percentage points to 12.6 percent, recovering slightly from big drops this year.
Still, the government is in no immediate danger because Norway's political system does not allow for early elections, unlike neighbouring Sweden and Denmark. Even if a government collapses, parties have to form a new government based on their current mandates and elections will not be held until 2017.
The Conservatives and Progress rule in a minority, often making it tough to get bills through parliament, but they mustered enough support to pass their 2015 budget after some compromises with smaller, centrist parties.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
