Conservative leader, William Hague, will today urge the government to postpone an expected May 3 general election. The new strategy comes as a Times Mori poll shows that Labour still has the "winning hand".

Speaking on a trip to visit Wensleydale, Carlisle and Lockerbie to meet with representatives from the farming and tourism industries that have been affected by foot and mouth disease Hague will embark on the high-risk strategy of arguing that a general election pits "party before country".

All the signs are that the government will take its final decision on a May poll on Monday with private Labour polling putting the party on 44 per cent - 16 points ahead of the Tories. Theses results are backed up by a Mori poll in today's Times giving Labour 50 per cent and the Conservatives 31 per cent (with the Lib Dems on 14 per cent).

The poll shows that the new Conservative strategy has an uphill task with Labour's opinion poll lead seemingly immune to the foot and mouth epidemic and increasing economic pessimism. The government is maintaining its lead in spite of high levels of public dissatisfaction - 66 per cent - with its efforts to combat foot and mouth.

Fifty one per cent, though, think the government is doing a good job at running the country, an indication, that in the public mind at least, hard-hit rural areas are not equated with the UK at large.

But there does seem to be a rural/urban divide opening up. Labour's support is growing in urban areas and slipping in the countryside - a shift that operates in inverse proportion to Conservative popularity. The Tories are down one point in urban areas to 28 per cent - Labour is up three points to 55 per cent. In the countryside, the Conservatives are up nine points to 35 per cent and Labour down three points to 41 per cent.

Labour still has to watch its "heartlands" with Mori showing that only 72 per cent of its supporters are prepared to vote - compared to 81 per cent of Tories. However, this differential turnout is still unlikely to lead an upset to the party balance.