David Cameron has opened up a big lead for the Conservatives among women voters, according to the latest opinion poll.

The Populus poll for the Times, published on Tuesday, shows that a gender gap has re-emerged between the leading parties under Cameron's leadership.

Questioned over the weekend, 37 per cent of female voters gave their support to the Tories against 31 per cent who backed Labour.

And among all voters, the Tories are still ahead of Labour, holding on to last month's showing of 36 per cent.

Labour are currently on 33 per cent, down two points, and the Liberal Democrats are up two points at 20 per cent.

The two major parties are level on 34 per cent among men.

However, the survey also asked the electorate how they would vote in three or four years, if, as expected, chancellor Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as leader of the Labour Party.

Against a Gordon Brown-led Labour Party, the Tories are still ahead, polling 38 per cent against Labour's 34 per cent, down from last month's eight-point lead.

But here the gender gap was even bigger, with women voters preferring the Tories over Labour by 42 to 30 per cent.

The traditional gender gap which saw greater support for Conservatives among women had been all but wiped out under Tony Blair's Labour leadership.

But it appears that Cameron has captured some of the appeal to women voters that Blair had swung in his favour.