European public has little trust in government information on Iraq

However, the findings also show that in Britain and Germany, among those who have expressed a preference, more people trust the information they receive from national TV companies than from their own governments. One in five adults in Germany (20 per cent) and almost a quarter in Britain (24 per cent) said they most trusted TV companies as a source of truthful facts about the Iraq conflict.

In comparison, relatively few respondents across all three countries trust their own governments most to provide them with 'truthful facts' about Iraq. The proportion is lowest among people in Britain where just six per cent of those questioned said they trusted their government most as a source of accurate information on Iraq, rising to nine per cent in Germany. Respondents in France said that they most trust their own government and national TV companies on Iraq in equal measures (12 per cent for each).

The survey also shows that across Britain, Germany and France, a significant minority
(25 per cent) would like more troops to be sent to Iraq to keep the peace. This is lowest in Germany at 22 per cent but rises to 26 per cent in France and 29 per cent in Britain. At the same time, around one third of respondents across all three countries would like to see all troops withdrawn from Iraq, highest (38 per cent) among people in France.

"These findings suggest that governments in three key European countries have done little to convince people that the information they are giving out on Iraq can be trusted," said Graham Page, Associate Director, TNS. "Moreover, with the Hutton Inquiry currently underway in the UK, trust in government-sourced information on Iraq is particularly low among Britons.

"People seem to be prepared to look to a wide range of alternative sources when they feel they are not being presented with accurate information from so-called 'official sources'."

Other key findings include:

• Of those who agree that more troops should be sent to keep the peace, eight out of ten adults in Britain are still prepared to support their own country's troops being sent to Iraq, compared with just 62 per cent of those in France and 44 per cent in Germany

• Overall, across Britain, France and Germany, women are more likely than men to trust neither their own government nor national TV companies to give truthful facts about the Iraq conflict

• Younger people tend to be the most supportive of sending more troops to keep the peace in Iraq across all three countries

The research was undertaken among representative samples of approximately 1,000 adults in each of Great Britain, France and Germany (ie a total of approximately 3,000 adults) between 21 and 25 August 2003.