( AFP ) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown will look to get his political fortunes back on track Tuesday with the Queen set to announce the government's upcoming legislative programme.
Brown's star has dimmed considerably in the past month since he decided not to hold a snap general election, and a new poll released Tuesday indicated his standing among voters had fallen since the summer.
The prime minister will look to put all that behind him, however, as the Queen formally opens parliament. Speculation over the Queen's speech has been relatively muted this year, however, as Brown broke new ground over the summer by giving a preview of the government's 23-bill agenda for public consultation.
He said in his July preview speech that he would look to increase the number of days terrorist suspects can be held without charge by police from the current 28-day limit, though it is unclear whether detailed proposals on that topic will be presented on Tuesday.
On Monday, the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, warned the country was facing "the most immediate and acute peacetime threat" that his century-old agency had ever known.
Tackling problems caused by sky-high property prices will also rank among the top priorities, along with more traditional areas of reform such as health and education.
Other proposals include a highly-publicised Climate Change Bill, which would make Britian the first country in the world to introduce a legal framework for meeting greenhouse gas emissions targets.
Meanwhile, a Times/Populus survey published Tuesday said the proportion of voters who thought Brown had what it takes to be a good prime minister had fallen to 49 percent, down 10 points from his peak in the summer.
It put backing for the Labour Party and Conservatives neck-and-neck at 37 and 36 percent respectively, from a double-digit Labour lead little more than a month ago.
Various other recent polls, however, have given the Conservatives substantial leads after they offered to cut various taxes -- a Sun/IPSOS-Mori put the Tories ahead by five points over the weekend, and also showed that 80 percent of Britons think his government is being dishonest about immigration.
The government has admitted to making mistakes over the number of foreign workers coming into the country, leaving Brown seeking to calm a simmering immigration row.