Tories look to be ahead of Labour in region

THE Conservatives are now ahead of Labour among Yorkshire voters for the first time during the election campaign, according to the final regional poll.

The poll – produced each week during the campaign – puts the Tories on 32 per cent with Labour and the Liberal Democrats level on 30 points.

If replicated as a unified swing across the region, it would put the Tories on course to win a host of Yorkshire seats from Labour including Leeds North East and Batley and Spen, two constituencies which have been at the far end of Tory ambitions, although they would miss out on Wakefield and Morley and Outwood, where Ed Balls is standing for Labour.

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The poll of 891 Yorkshire voters, conducted by YouGov for the Politics Home website, marks a dramatic shift from the picture in 2005, when Labour ended up 15 points clear of the Tories.

But it also shows that David Cameron has work to do – while Labour has slumped from 44 points to 30 since the last election, the Tories have gained just three points. It is the Liberal Democrats who appear to have been the real risers of this campaign, climbing from 21 per cent to 30 per cent.

That puts Nick Clegg on course to win several of his Labour target seats in the region – such as Sheffield Central – as well as being able to hold off the Tory challenge to Liberal Democrat seat Harrogate and Knaresborough, and York Outer, a new seat which experts calculate the Lib Dems would have won in 2005.

The poll – which has seen support for Labour draining away – was conducted at the weekend since when other national polls have suggested Labour may be recovering a little.