Britain\u2019s ruling Conservatives took a five point lead over Labour in an Ipsos-MORI survey on Thursday, the latest poll to show David Cameron\u2019s party gaining an edge just seven days before a knife-edge election.
\nThe Conservatives and Ed Miliband\u2019s opposition Labour Party have been neck-and-neck in most polls since the start of the year, but by Thursday seven of the 10 pollsters covering the May 7 election had Cameron\u2019s Conservatives ahead by varying degrees. In a poll for London\u2019s Evening Standard newspaper, Ipsos MORI put that lead at five points, after the Conservatives gained two percentage points to hold 35 percent support and Labour dropped five percentage points to 30 percent. The results helped to keep sterling near a two-month high against a weak dollar.
\nThe election, which could determine Britain\u2019s place in the European Union and Scotland\u2019s future in the United Kingdom, is the closest since the 1970s with neither of the two main parties able to open up a big enough lead to rule alone.
\nSurveys show that, instead, millions of voters are flocking to once-marginal parties, especially in Scotland where the Scottish National Party (SNP) looks set to make major gains, and in England where both big parties are losing votes to the anti-EU UKIP.<\/p>\n