Dead heat for top two parties

Latest poll puts Labour and Tories neck and neck

Latest poll puts Labour and Tories neck and neck

The first opinion poll since the general election was declared puts the Conservatives and Labour neck and neck.

The YouGov survey for Sky News found that support for both parties stands at 36 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats have 21 per cent of voter support.

It comes as Tony Blair today prepares to face Conservative leader Michael Howard directly for the last time before the election takes place, during Prime Minister’s Question Time in the Commons.

The Prime Minister confirmed yesterday that the election would be held on May 5, sparking a flurry of activity from all the major parties.

Approximately 65 per cent of respondents said they were definitely planning to vote on election day, although Tory voters were more certain than Labour supporters.

More worryingly, almost two thirds (63 per cent) of the 1,735 voters quizzed in the online poll on April 5 said they had found campaigning over the last week or two boring.

The survey found health was the most important election issue (41 per cent), followed by immigration and asylum (40 per cent), crime (36 per cent) and tax (27 per cent).

There was good news for Labour as the respondents put Iraq bottom of the list of main concerns (nine per cent).