Tories lead over Labour slashed

1:41am Tuesday 2nd December 2008

The Tories' lead over Labour has been slashed to just one point in the latest poll.

The ComRes survey for The Independent put the Conservatives down two since last month on 37% and Labour up five on 36%, suggesting the "Brown bounce" is still on track. The Liberal Democrats were up one on 17%.

If repeated in a general election, the findings would apparently give Labour a small majority because of imbalances in the UK's first-past-the-post electoral system.

The poll will encourage renewed talk of a 2009 election, coming after indications since last week's Pre-Budget Report (PBR) that the Tories had put an end to a recent Labour surge.

They are the best findings for Labour since January, when an Ipsos Mori poll put the party one point ahead of the Tories.

The ComRes survey suggests working class voters have responded well to the PBR, which heralded a new 45p top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 a year.

Labour support among the bottom social group DE has risen to 51% from 35% last month, it found.