Punters back away from Tories

CITY gamblers have been rushing to 'sell the Tories' after the limp performance of Michael Howard's party in last week's by-elections.

Political bookmakers said that the days since the by-elections, at Birmingham Hodge Hill and Leicester South have been the busiest period yet for gambling on the next General Election, which is expected to take place next spring.

Sporting Index has cut its quote for Conservative seats in the next parliament from 230-238 to 220-228, and raised its quote for Labour seats from 334-342 to 342-350. Its quote for the Lib Dems is now 60-64, up from 56-60.

Wally Pyrah, at Sporting Index, said: 'The Tories have plummeted by 10 seats. Punters came in after Thursday and went short of Conservative seats, forcing us to adjust our quotes for all the parties.' Sporting's quote for Labour seats would imply a majority for Tony Blair's party in the new parliament of between 25 and 41.

This is well down on Blair's 2001 majority of 167, but a change from recent bookmakers' prices, which have suggested that a 2005 election could produce a hung parliament.

IG Index is offering very similar prices to Sporting Index, with one exception) it is quoting the UK Independence Party to win between 1.4 and 2.2 seats in the new parliament.

Karim Fatih, IG's political spread specialist, said: 'We have taken a couple of quite big bets from people gambling that UKIP will win more than two seats.'