British Tory leader David Cameron remains on course to secure a Commons majority at the next general election, according to a new poll.
The YouGov survey for the Sunday Timesgave the Tories a 13-point lead, enough to form a government but still down on the 14-point advantage they had in the same poll last month.
It will give the Conservatives some comfort after recent polls suggesting their lead had fallen to 10 points or less, pointing to a hung Parliament in the election expected next spring.
Support for the Tories was down from 41 per cent to 40 per cent, but Labour failed to improve on 27 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats also stood still on 18 per cent, according to YouGov.
The poll also found that 52 per cent of voters thought the Conservatives were still the part of the rich, compared with 31 per cent who did not.
That finding might embolden Labour attempts to highlight the privileged upbringing of Tory leader Mr Cameron and other shadow ministers.
YouGov interviewed a representative sample of 2,095 voters online, across Britain, on December 3rd and 4th.
A further poll, by ICM for the Sunday Telegraph, also gave the Tories a big enough lead to obtain a majority.
It put the Tories on 40 per cent, 11 points clear of Labour on 29 per cent. The Lib Dems were on 19 per cent. If repeated in an election, the Tories would have a majority of between 20 and 25 seats.
But ICM found that Labour had significantly closed the gap on the Tories since a similar poll taken by ICM in late October. The Tories were down two points since then, while Labour were up four. The Lib Dems were also down two.
ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,001 adults by telephone on December 2nd and 3rd, weighting results to the profile of all adults.
PA