The latest YouGov poll for the Sunday Times has Labour over Tories 36-35.

Yet, ICM in The Sunday Telegraph is more emphatic, putting Labour on 40 per cent, the Tories on 30 per cent.

While that 10 point gap is the widest since the formal start to the election campaign, overall the spreads in opinion polls have not really indicated any dramatic swings or anomalies. As YouGov's Peter Kellner said on BBC's Breakfast With Frost, all the polls his organisation has done have showed both major parties within a consistent range plus or minus one or two points.

Still, Ladbrokes reports that odds on the election outcome "have changed for the first time in two months". Labour have been cut to 1/20 from 1/16, while the Conservatives drift from 7/1 to 15/2. Bookies are apparently are also seeing plenty of money for turnout above 60 per cent, at odds of 2/5.


The Independent On Sunday has a story outlining the details of Tony Blair's plan to hand over power to Gordon Brown, with Alastair Campbell - mooted as a possible sports minister after the election - acting as the go-between to ensure a smooth transition.

(And talking of Alastair, this isn't, of course, him - we're fairly sure...)

A poll for the Indy shows Labour with a six-point lead over the Tories, but indicates that the lead would be 14 points if the chancellor were Labour leader.

Interestingly, also, more than a quarter of Lib Dem voters say they would switch to Labour if Mr Brown were in charge, indicating the degree of Mr Blair's personal responsibility for his party's disenchanted supporters.


Meanwhile, Michael Howard offered more details of the Conseravtives' plans for tax and pensions, while The Sunday Times also raises discontent within ministerial ranks over the use of not-yet-elected Ed Balls to front the government's response in the absence of the chancellor.


Talking of Eds, John Naughton in The Observer has a nice piece on the dangers of photo-shopping, post-Matts. He warns: "The adage that 'the camera never lies' has been comprehensively undermined. Better to assume from now on that it never tells the truth."


Finally, is a Labour minister really advocating tactical voting?