Brexit splits cost UK Conservatives support: poll

(LONDON) - Divisions in British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party over the EU referendum are costing it support, according to a poll Friday showing the opposition Labour taking the lead for the first time in months.

Labour polled 34 percent in a new YouGov survey, one point ahead of the Conservatives, and the first time they have taken the lead since before the May 2015 election.

"Euro squabbles appear to be hurting the party's image," wrote YouGov director Anthony Wells and founder Stephan Shakespeare in a joint commentary in The Times newspaper.

"Our polls have found that more than two-thirds of the public see the Tories (Conservatives) as divided."

Cameron is leading the campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

But London's Tory mayor Boris Johnson, six senior Conservative ministers and an estimated third of the party's 330 MPs are backing a so-called Brexit.

"Voters don't like divided parties," commented Mike Smithson, an election analyst who runs the Political Betting blog.

Labour, led by left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, is also divided over the EU but its disagreements have not been so public.

The YouGov poll appears to indicate a trend after a poll for ICM earlier this week for The Guardian newspaper put the Conservatives and Labour neck and neck at 36 percent.

This represents a blow for the Tories, who had enjoyed a lead of up to double figures in recent months.

ICM research director Martin Boon cautioned that the survey could be a "rogue" poll, noting the past tendency to exaggerate Labour support.

But he noted: "We have seen an unprecedented level of division within the Conservative party over the EU."

He added: "Under such circumstances, polling support tends to suffer -- there's nothing worse than party disunity to prompt a polling freefall."

The YouGov poll was taken after finance minister George Osborne's budget on Wednesday.

It found that 38 percent of respondents thought the annual package of tax and spending measures was unfair. Just 28 percent thought it fair.

At this point in the last parliament, Labour was well ahead in the polls. At the election, the Conservatives won 36.9 percent of the vote, compared to Labour's 30.4 percent.