Labour lead over Tories falls sharply

Michael Howard's growing confidence about the general election was boosted today when a new opinion poll found Labour's lead had narrowed sharply in the past month.

The NOP poll for The Independent put the Tories on 34 per cent of the vote, up four points. Labour retained its lead, but at 39 per cent it was three points down on February.

And while in February Labour was a huge 12 points clear of the Conservatives, the March poll saw that lead trimmed to five points. The Liberal Democrats scored 19 per cent of the vote, up one point on February.

The 12-point lead last month led some Labour-supporting commentators to claim that Alan Milburn was having a good election campaign.

But since then a raft of polls have shown that Tory criticisms over the NHS and schools, and popular plans to cut council tax and curb immigration, have worked.

However, the figures, if repeated at a general election, would still give Labour a majority in excess of 100 seats.