British election: Poll suggests a tighter race with boost for Labour

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Photo / AP

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party holds a 16-point lead over the main opposition Labour Party ahead of a national election on June 8, an opinion poll showed, a smaller lead than other polls have suggested.

The YouGov poll conducted for the Times today showed support for the Conservatives at 45 per cent, down three percentage points from a YouGov poll conducted last week.

Labour increased its support by four points to 29 per cent, while the smaller Liberal Democrats were down two points at 10 per cent and Ukip rose two points to 7 per cent, the Times said.

The poll findings excluded "don't knows" and "would not vote" responses.

The YouGov poll suggested a somewhat tighter race than the picture painted by two other surveys published earlier today which had shown the Conservatives enjoying leads of 23 and 22 points over Labour.

One of those two polls, by Ipsos MORI, said the lead of the Conservatives was equal to that commanded by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher before her 1983 landslide victory.

The Times also said its YouGov poll showed that for the first time since June's Brexit vote more voters believed that the referendum decision to leave the European Union was a mistake than those who thought it was the right decision.

Forty-five per cent of respondents thought it was the wrong decision compared with 43 per cent who said it was correct while 12 per cent said they did not know.

British voters split 52-48 per cent in favour of leaving the EU at the referendum which the Government has said cannot be reversed.

May, who replaced David Cameron as prime minister shortly after last June's referendum shock, repeatedly ruled out a snap election until April 18 when she announced the June 8 vote.

May is seeking to bolster her majority in parliament ahead of potentially disruptive EU divorce talks and has gambled that the low level of support for the Labour Party under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn gives her a good chance to achieve that.

1/ Class used to be the dividing line in British politics, but is no longer a reliable indicator of how people vote https://t.co/6HGRUjbGMG pic.twitter.com/2ATiv5BEXG

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 25, 2017

2/ AGE is the new political dividing line - for every 10yrs older a voter is, their chance of voting Tory goes up 8% https://t.co/6HGRUjbGMG pic.twitter.com/0MOVlFgJDu

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 25, 2017

3/ Gender is less of an issue for the Conservatives than it was https://t.co/6HGRUjbGMG pic.twitter.com/lIcyokES1E

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 25, 2017

4/ Education is another key indicator: the more educated a person is the more likely they are to vote Labour/Lib Dem https://t.co/6HGRUjbGMG pic.twitter.com/zffRHxikV8

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 25, 2017

5/ The Conservatives are still the party of the rich, but Labour trail 13pts behind the Tories among the poorest https://t.co/6HGRUjbGMG pic.twitter.com/IS2uQUtLgG

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 25, 2017

- Reuters, AAP