UK goes to polls, high on Labour

London, April 30: The voting on May 1 will decide whether Tony Blair becomes Britain's youngest Prime Minister since 1801, or whether the C...

int(3)

London, April 30: The voting on May 1 will decide whether Tony Blair becomes Britain’s youngest Prime Minister since 1801, or whether the Conservatives stay in government for an unprecedented fifth term.

Opinion polls are backing Blair. The Labour Party, according to polls continues to have a comfortable 18 to 20 point lead over the Conservatives.

The latest Gallup poll showed that Labour had slipped one point to 49, but was still 18 points ahead of the Conservatives who were unchanged on 31.A running poll in the Daily Telegraph gave Labour a 20-point margin, at 51 per cent to the Conservatives 31 per cent.Labour’s lead once the “undecided” vote has been discounted is a far less impressive 10 points.

Story continues below this ad

The adjusted figures break the vote up giving Labour 37, the Conservatives 27, Liberal Democrats 5. The most optimistic poll, NOP for Reuters gives Labour 50 per cent of the vote, the Conservatives, 28 and the Liberal Democrats 14 per cent.

The NOP calculation also gives Labour a 441 majority in Parliament, which would make it the largest majority since Stanley Baldwin led the Conservatives to a 223-seat majority in 1924.The House of Commons has 659 seats and Labour will have to win 330 for an overall majority. In the last Parliament the Conservatives had 321 seats, Labour 272 and the Liberal Democrats 26.