UK News

British Labour party close gap on Tories as election looms

Feb 28, 2010, 12:28 GMT

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives at the Global Investment conference taking place in the Saatchi Gallery, London, Britain, 22 February 2010. EPA/FELIPE TRUEBA

London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party has made an unexpected comeback in the opinion polls two months before a probable general election, poll results published Sunday showed.

The survey commissioned for the Sunday Times newspaper shows that support for the opposition Conservatives, led by David Cameron, has collapsed, leaving the Labour party just two points behind.

The Conservatives, according to the YouGov poll, had 37 per cent support, their lowest score in two years, and Labour picked up two points to reach 35 per cent.

In December, Labour lay some 20 points behind the Tories. British political observers are now seriously appraising the likelihood of a hung parliament, where no party obtains an outright majority.

The Conservatives had long been expected to win the election, with voters disenchanted with Labour, which has been in power since 1997.

Cameron is to address his party in a key spring forum on Sunday, in which he has pledged to speak, without notes, to restore confidence in his leadership.

If the results bore out on election day, expected now on May 6, Brown would be able to stay in office as Prime Minister, although with 317 seats, without an overall majority, the paper said.

Gordon Brown has been reeling in recent days from a scandal over his alleged bullying behaviour, after a book detailing life inside Downing Street under his premiership was serialized in a national newspaper.