Polls: Labour lead

With a little over a week to go before the electorate casts their votes, Tuesday's opinion polls suggest Labour remains in a strong position.

Tony Blair's party has surged to a 10-point lead over the Tories, according to an NOP survey for the Independent.

Labour is up three points at 40 per cent, while the Tories are down two points on 30 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats are unchanged on 21 per cent.

If repeated on May 5, Labour would gain a majority of more than 150.

The survey gives Labour its biggest lead in NOP's series of polls for the Independent since February, when it was 12 points ahead.

In the past week, the proportion of Labour supporters who say they are certain to vote has risen by four points to 71 per cent.

But a "senior Labour source" told the Independent that its opinion poll success was not all good news.

"Michael Howard's campaign, particularly on immigration, is driving people back to us," the source said.

"But we would rather the polls were closer. Otherwise people are in the comfort zone and think they can give us a kick without it having any consequences."

Meanwhile, the latest Populus tracker poll for the Times has Labour maintaining its position at 41 per cent for the third day in a row.

The Tories are up one point at 33 per cent, with the Lib Dems slipping one point to 19 per cent, and other parties on seven per cent.