LABOUR'S plans to increase education spending and stop hospital closures have found favour among voters in the West Midlands.

A new survey found 43.1% of respondents in the region agreed with Labour's plans to boost school budgets by £6bn a year.

That was the most support for any major policy pledge by any of the major parties.

Some 41.4% agreed with Labour's plans to freeze on hospital closures.

Labour's education plans even found strong levels of support among people planning to vote for other parties.

Some 68.8% of people saying they plan to vote Lib Dem and 36.4% of would-be Conservative voters agree with the extra schools cash.

Among voters in the West Midlands, the most popular Conservative election promise was recruiting 10,000 more mental health staff.

That was supported by 41.5% of people across the region.

Caps on energy prices (34.4%) and cutting immigration (34.0%) came next.

The Lib Dem's most popular promise was extra education spending while for the Green party it was scrapping tuition fees.

The study, run in partnership with Google Surveys, was completed online by more than 8,000 people across the regions of England.

Hereford Times: