Britain's opposition Conservatives said on Sunday they would welcome an early election after a newspaper report that ruling Labour was gearing up for a vote in March. The Sunday Times said Labour could opt for a March 25 election, encouraged by a poll showing the Conservatives' lead had slipped to nine points from 13 a week ago.
However, a separate poll in the Independent on Sunday, with a smaller sample, gave the centre-right Conservatives a commanding 17-point lead, putting them on course to return to the power for the first time since 1997. Prime Minister Gordon Brown must hold an election by early June and most commentators expect voting to be on May 6.
Opposition leader David Cameron repeated his call for the vote to be held as quickly as possible. A winter election in Britain is a rarity, making March the earliest date. "We should have an election because we need a new government, we need a fresh start," Cameron told Sky News.
"I hope the election can come as early in the new year as possible, we are certainly ready to go...I've been saying internally that I think March 25 is quite a likely date if the prime minister wants to have any freedom of manoeuvre."
The opinion polls were taken in the wake of Wednesday's pre-budget report in which finance minister Alistair Darling announced plans for a levy on bank bonuses and for higher payroll taxes for most to help cut a record deficit.
An uneven distribution of support among Britain's 650 constituencies means a hung parliament becomes a possibility when the Conservative lead falls below 10 percentage points, political commentators say.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls, a long-time Brown ally, played down the speculation of an early poll . "I've heard nobody talking about going for a snap or early election. But whenever it comes, we will be ready," Balls told BBC television.
The YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put Labour on 31 percent, up four points on last weekend, leaving them nine points behind the Conservatives who were unchanged on 40 percent. The Liberal Democrats dropped two points to 16 percent.
The poll of 2,044 adults showed nearly four-fifths supported the levy on bank bonuses. However another poll, by ComRes for the Independent on Sunday put the Conservatives on 41 percent, up four points since its previous poll published on December 1. Support for Labour had slipped 3 points to 24 points, it said, while the Liberal Democrats gained 1 point to 21. ComRes said it interviewed 1,001 adults for its poll.