The vote in Thursday's Welsh referendum is still too close to call, a new opinion poll suggested last night. A survey for HTV Wales gives a lead of 8 per cent to the Yes campaign for a Welsh assembly.
But with only two days to go before voting, about a third of those questioned are still undecided, according to the poll conducted for a special HTV programme on the run-up to the referendum.
The trend comes after an ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper last week which forecast a knifeedge result, with 37 per cent backing a Welsh assembly and 36 per cent opposing it. Some 27 per cent were undecided.
A Beaufort Research poll for the Cardiff Western Mail newspaper at the end of last month put the Yes vote at 42 per cent, the No vote at 22 per cent and the Don't Knows at 36 per cent.
The Welsh Secretary, Mr Ron Davies, responding to the HTV poll, said: "These are encouraging figures. As the campaign intensifies, it is clear that the case for a Yes vote in Thursday's referendum is getting through.
"But there is still a lot to do and there can be no complacency. We must work hard for every vote.
"I am sure that the Yes campaign will receive a further boost when the Prime Minister visits Wales tomorrow [Tuesday] and I know that he will be urging everyone in Wales to support the case for an effective Welsh assembly."
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, is due to return to Wales today to boost Labour's final push before the referendum.
The Conservative Party leader, Mr William Hague, a former Welsh Secretary, will make a last-minute appeal to Welsh voters to reject devolution when he makes a visit tomorrow.