A British election expected in early May could leave no party in overall control of parliament after Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party cut the opposition Conservatives’ lead to single figures, an opinion poll suggested on Sunday.

The ICM survey in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper put the centre-right Conservatives on 39 per cent, down one point from last month, with the centre-left Labour unchanged on 30 per cent.

If repeated on election day, that result would leave the main opposition party 14 seats short of a majority in the lower house, the Conservative-supporting newspaper said. It would be the first time there has been no outright winner in a British election since the mid-1970s.

That could make financial markets jittery over whether legislators would be able to take decisive action to tackle Britain’s record budget deficit, analysts say.

The third-placed centrist Liberal Democrats, who could hold the balance of power if no single party secures a majority, were up two points on 20 per cent.

Brown, who survived an attempted coup by two former ministers last month, has steadily eroded the Conservatives’ lead in recent months. Some polls last year put Brown 20 points behind the Conservatives, out of power since 1997.

Despite his party’s infighting last month, Brown said Labour can still fight back to win a fourth consecutive election for the first time in its history.

“I am not complacent, but Labour can still win it. I am absolutely sure of that,” Brown said in an interview with the Observer, a pro-Labour Sunday newspaper. “People will look very carefully at us again and I think they will make a decision. I have got faith in the good sense of the British people.”

Brown has faced criticism over the war in Afghanistan, a scandal over lawmakers’ expenses claims and the size of Britain’s record budget deficit, which is set to exceed 12 per cent of gross domestic product this year.

Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to cut the deficit sooner and faster than Labour if he wins the election.

“But Brown has sought to undermine Cameron, a 43-year-old former public relations executive, by accusing him of lacking the experience to manage the economic recovery.

Labour could attempt to wrong-foot the Conservatives by calling an election for April 15 rather than May 6, the date which ministers have suggested as the most likely date for the vote, the Telegraph said.

Date : 08/02/2010. News by Newsofap.com