Lord Mandelson on Tuesday warned that Britain faced public spending constraints for the next decade, as the government recalibrated Gordon Brown’s “Labour investment versus Tory cuts” message.

The shift in Labour’s stance followed polling evidence that David Cameron, the Tory leader, has outflanked the prime minister by warning of the need for austerity on public finances. More than two-thirds of voters want spending to be cut, including a majority of Labour voters, according to an ICM survey for Tuesday’s Guardian.