New Populus poll gives Labour a 3-point lead

Labour is three points ahead of the Conservatives, according to a new poll by Populus which suggests that Tory attacks on Ed Miliband's party have so far failed to dent his lead.

The Conservatives have stepped up their rhetoric about the "chaos" of a Miliband-led minority government, warning repeatedly that he would have to work with the Scottish National party to get a majority in the Commons.

Mr Miliband has meanwhile accused the Tories of planning unnecessarily deep cuts to public spending early in the next parliament.

But with only 10 days until polling day Labour is still at 36 per cent against the Tories' 33 per cent, according to the poll by Populus, carried out between April 24 and 26. That is a slightly bigger lead than Labour's 2 point advantage a week earlier.

Some business leaders are increasingly frustrated at the tactics and tone of the Tory election campaign, criticising personal attacks on the opposition and the number of unfunded spending promises.

The election race is proving to be the most unpredictable for a generation, with many people still undecided about how to vote on May 7.

"This latest poll just shows the contest is still too close to call as the campaign enters its final 10 days," said Rick Nye, managing director of Populus.

Lynton Crosby, the Tories' campaign chief, has repeatedly told his colleagues that there would be a "crossover point" where the party began to outpoll Labour - but this has so far failed to materialise.

Instead, out of the 10 most recent polls six suggest a Labour lead while four indicate that the Conservative are ahead.

All of them suggest that support for Ukip remains in the double digits, despite the belief within Conservative high command that backing for Nigel Farage's anti-EU party would dwindle close to the election.

Populus still has Ukip on 14 per cent, far ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 8 per cent and the Green party on 5 per cent.

On the first-past-the-post system, however, Ukip could still struggle to get more than a few seats while the Lib Dems could win more than 30.

A lead of three points for Labour - if repeated on May 7 - would give the party a small majority on a uniform swing.

Yet Mr Miliband's party has a problem in the form of the rise of the SNP in Scotland.

Some experts believe that the nationalists could seize more than 30 of Labour's 40 seats north of the border, making it much harder for the party to achieve a national victory.

Instead the odds, and the betting money, are pointing to a hung parliament.

Bookmakers are offering odds of 33:1 on a Labour majority and odds of 7:1 on a Tory majority, suggesting that both are unlikely.

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