Polls: Show continued Labour lead

Labour has a six-point lead over the Tories, according to a new poll.

The first of the Times/ITV News tracker polls by Populus, taken between April 15 and 18, puts Labour on 39 per cent, with the Tories on 33 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 21 per cent and other parties on seven per cent.

Tracker polls provide a continuous survey which can be used to monitor trends in opinion but have attracted criticism for using small samples and the same responses for several days running.

Each day the most recent 350 samples are added to the findings, with the oldest 350 falling off.

Populus' Andrew Cooper told the Times that the poll "will not be producing daily revisions of what the result of the election will be, so much as plotting the momentum of the campaign and answering the question 'Which party is winning the campaign?' or, at least 'Which party won the campaign today?'

Nineteen per cent of Tory supporters say party positions on immigration and asylum seekers are the biggest influence so far in deciding their vote, according to the survey.

This compares with six per cent of Labour voters and 12 per cent of Lib Dems.

However, positions on public services such as the NHS are the biggest single influence, especially for women (30 per cent) and Labour supporters (34 per cent).

The other big influences are opinions on Tony Blair (17 per cent), tax and public spending (15 per cent) and a negative opinion of other parties (nine per cent).

Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has made a more favourable impact than the other leaders so far, according to the survey.