Blair expected to win third term as British Prime Minister

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on course to secure a historic third term in office, with his New Labour party widely tipped to win today's general election.

Labour has led the opinion polls throughout the campaign, but Michael Howard's Conservative Party appears to be making some gains and Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats are attracting many voters turned off by Mr Blair's pursuit of war in Iraq.

The latest batch of opinion polls yesterday put Labour's lead at between three and six percentage points.

However, the party is expecting a tough fight to hold many of its key marginal seats, which the Tories and the Lib Dems have set their sights on.