HOME Secretary Alan Johnson yesterday let slip he believes the general election is now eight months away – suggesting that he expects an April campaign ahead of polling day on 6 May 2010.
His comments came as Labour and the Conservatives shape up for a battle to the finish in this week's crunch Norwich North by-election, with each hoping to seize the momentum which will see them through to the general election.
Thursday's by-electi
on will provide a key indicator of how the parties stand in the race for 10 Downing Street, with David Cameron hoping to snatch a seat that was held by Labour's Ian Gibson by a margin of 5,459 in 2005.
An ICM poll yesterday suggested that Tories were set to win the seat, putting Mr Cameron's party on 34 per cent in the constituency, with Labour on 30 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 15 per cent, narrowly ahead of the Greens on 14 per cent.
Two national polls gave comfortable leads of 15 and 17 points to the Tories, with Labour struggling to hold second place with a single-point margin over the Lib Dems in one survey.
YouGov put the Tories on 42 per cent, Labour on 25 per cent and Lib Dems on 18 per cent, while ComRes had the Tories on 38 per cent against Labour's 23 per cent and the Lib Dems' 22 per cent.
All the parties have high-profile events scheduled for the next few days in the hope of maintaining control of the agenda, though none is linked directly to Norwich North.
Mr Johnson insisted that Labour has "everything to play for" in the general election expected in the spring. "Where the Tories are, whether it's the late 30s or early 40s, eight months before a general election, everything is to play for here," he said. "It is game on."
