British general election could lead to hung parliament

AN election due by June is likely to result in a hung British parliament where no single party has an outright majority, two opinion polls showed yesterday.

The polls, published in the Mail on Sunday and the People newspapers, both put the Conservative Party nine percentage points ahead of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour.

Two polls on Saturday also hinted at a hung parliament.

Analysts say a lead of up to nine points is unlikely to give the Conservatives an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament – the first time this would have occurred in Britain since the mid-1970s.

A hung parliament could make financial markets jittery over whether legislators would be able to take decisive action to tackle Britain’s record budget deficit.

A BPIX poll for the Mail on Sunday showed a slip in support for David Cameron’s Conservatives, putting them on 39%, Labour on 30% and the Liberal Democrats on 18%.