London: Britain's ruling Labour party has almost closed the gap with the main opposition Conservatives, a new poll published today shows, indicating a remarkable comeback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Labour has bounced back from being more than 20 points behind this summer to just one point behind, in a new ComRes survey for the Independent newspaper.
Brown's party is up five points since last month to 36 per cent, and the Tories are down two to 37 per cent, the poll finds. The smaller opposition Liberal Democrats were up one to 17 per cent.
The poll, which confirms the rapidly improving fortunes of Labour since the credit crunch hit Britain in earnest, is likely to fuel speculation that there will be an election next year. Brown must call a vote by 2010.
ComRes interviewed 1,005 adults by telephone between November 28 and 30.
