Polls still signal hung Parliament (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Polls still signal hung Parliament

12:10am Sunday 21st March 2010 in

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The Tories are still not on course to win the general election outright, two more opinion polls have indicated, pointing to the possibility of a hung Parliament.

An ICM survey for the the News of the World put the advantage at six points and research by YouGov for the Sunday Times suggested David Cameron enjoyed a seven-point advantage.

But the polls - both carried out in the middle of this week - gave contrasting signals on the party's trajectory.

One showed the Tory lead shrinking by three points, while the other suggested it had widened by the same margin.

Neither, however, would translate into an overall majority for the Conservatives.

With less than seven weeks to go until the expected election date of May 6, ICM put the Tories on 38% - down two - and Labour up one at 32%.

The Liberal Democrats were a point down at 19%.

By contrast, YouGov showed a single-point improvement for the Opposition to 38%, Labour down two on 31% and the Liberal Democrats up two at 19%.

ICM Research interviewed 1,002 people by telephone on March 17-18, and YouGov polled 1,547 people online on March 18-19.