Tories on track for election win: poll

Britain's Conservative party is on the brink of claiming back power from Labour in
the UK, based on a major exit poll of voters which predicts a hung parliament.
The joint BBC/ITV/Sky News poll predicted a hung parliament would be the key result
from the tightly fought general election, with the Tories falling short of securing
the 326 seats they need to form a majority government after 13 years in opposition.
The poll predicted the Tories would have the most MPs in the House of Commons - 307,
up 97 on the number elected at the last election in 2005.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ruling Labour party stood to have 255 MPs, down 94.
The Liberal Democrats, who had enjoyed a surge in popularity during the four-week
campaign, would have 59 seats, down four, while 29 seats would go to other minor
parties and independents.
While exit polls have a shaky record at predicting accurate election results, if
this one proved correct Tory leader David Cameron could lead a minority government.
Even if Labour did a deal with the Lib Dems, such a coalition would still only have
314 MPs and fall short of being able to form a majority government.
If a hung parliament is the outcome of the election, it will only be the first time
since 1974 that such a result has been seen in Britain.
Voter turnout was expected to be high across the country in what has been the UK's
tightest election battle in decades.
Labour and Tory officials treated the exit poll results with caution, noting that
polling booths had closed at 10pm (0700 AEST, Friday) just as the poll was being
released.
Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said while the poll suggested a strong vote
for change, "a degree of humility" was needed at this stage.
"Exit polls in the past have given us rouge results and we need to treat it with
caution," he told BBC One.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman said it was to early to say what the election
result would be.
"It's obviously going to be very close," she told BBC One.
"But I think what's clear is the country needs a strong and stable government to
take us through the recession."
The Lib Dems deputy leader Vince Cable described the exit poll result as "very
strange" and noted such polls had been "horribly wrong" in the past.
The Tories led opinion polls carried out throughout the campaign, with Labour and
the Lib Dems jostling in second and third places in terms of the popular vote.
However, the complexities of Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system mean
that having the biggest share of the popular vote does not necessarily translate
into having the most seats.
The exit poll based on surveys of voters at 130 polling stations across Britain by
NOP and Mori.