Poll boost for Brown

Updated 22.17 Sun Jul 15 2007

Keywords: poll, Labour, Gordon Brown, politics

An opinion poll has given Labour its biggest lead for nearly two years.

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph put Labour on 40 per cent compared with 33 per cent for the Tories and 19 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

The seven-point lead - its biggest since September 2005 - came as it emerged that key Cabinet ally Ed Miliband had been set to work on Labour's general election manifesto

The seven-point lead - its biggest since September 2005 - came as it emerged that key Cabinet ally Ed Miliband had been set to work on Labour's general election manifesto.

The process is expected to continue through the autumn, but will fuel speculation that the Prime Minister could go to the country next spring - two years before an election is necessary.

Poll findings such as ICM's, which would be enough to give Mr Brown a majority of more than 100 seats, may persuade him to strike early.

Mr Brown made an audacious grab for Tory support when he invited "moderate Conservatives" to join the Labour Party.

His appeal follows the defection to Labour of Tory MP Quentin Davies and Mr Brown's attempts to build a government of "all the talents".

But Mr Brown's first by-election test, in Ealing Southall next Thursday, has been beset by defections to the Tories by a series of local Labour councillors.