As May 5 slowly draws nearer, Labour is remaining ahead in the opinion polls.

A YouGov survey for Friday's Telegraph gave Tony Blair's party a three point lead over Michael Howard's troops.

The survey appears to confirm the general picture revealed by other recent polls, which also showed a Labour lead.

YouGov put Labour on 37 per cent, with the Tories on 34 per cent.

Both main parties were up one per cent on the last poll by the same firm, published on Monday.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats were down one point to 22 per cent.

That finding will disappoint Charles Kennedy's party, which usually expects to see its support pick up as the Lib Dems benefit from increased media coverage close to an election.

Meanwhile, the daily tracker poll conducted by Populus on behalf of the Times, has the Tories up one point to 34 per cent, with Labour unchanged on 39 points. The Lib Dems are down one point at 20 per cent.

While three fifths of voters (62 per cent) are dissatisfied with the Labour, 57 per cent say they still prefer a Labour administration to a Tory one.

And a MORI survey for Friday's Sun gives Labour a seven point lead over the Tories.

Of the 59 per cent who said they were "absolutely certain" to vote, Labour is on 39 per cent, the Tories 32 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 22 per cent.