Britain's opposition Conservatives, underdogs for the June 7 general election, have made no progress in early campaigning in reducing the ruling Labour Party's lead, opinion polls showed today.
Political experts agreed the Conservatives had performed better than Labour in launching their campaign, but the polls showed the quick start had made little or no impact on voters.
Three separate polls for Sunday newspapers painted a consistent picture - the Labour Party commands between 48 and 51 per cent of the vote and the Tories lag at 31 to 32 per cent.
"The summary of the first week is that the public are with us but the media are a bit 'iffy'," Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair told BBC Television."I'll settle for that. The figures will hit Conservative leader Mr William Hague hard."
Mr Hague was widely perceived to have won the first week of campaigning, hitting the ground running, releasing his full manifesto days before Labour and fuelling a potent debate about tax, and how much of it Britons will pay under Mr Blair.
Mr Blair's campaign was also hit by charges of in-fighting among Labour party leaders about the slow start to campaigning.
Ministers, MPs and party workers ... believe that Labour's campaign to win another landslide victory on June 7 has started poorly, the Sunday Timessaid in an assessment that was shared by other newspapers. Yet the polls have barely budged.
Sixty per cent of those polled for the Sunday Timessaid the Tories would never win while Mr Hague was party leader.
Mr Blair ended 18 years in opposition for Labour in 1997 with a landslide victory, securing a majority of 179 seats, the biggest margin for 150 years, in the 659-seat House of Commons.
Polling figures suggest Labour may increase its majority in next month's election.