Election day dawns for British voters

British voters head to the polls today in a general election that two final opinion polls forecast prime minister Mr Tony Blair…

British voters head to the polls today in a general election that two final opinion polls forecast prime minister Mr Tony Blair will win by a landslide.

In the latest polls, a MORI survey put Labour on 45 per cent of the vote, the Conservatives on 30 and the Liberal Democrats on 18. Gallup gave Labour 48, the Conservatives 32 and the LibDems 16.

If the polls are right, Mr Blair will win a second full term - something that has eluded every Labour prime minister since the party was founded a century ago.

Voting starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. with the result expected early on Friday morning.

READ MORE

Mr Blair is already sitting on a 179-seat majority in the 659-seat House of Commons from his 1997 win that ended 18 years of Conservative rule.

Speculation that a new Labour government would move for a swift entry into the euro took over two US cents off the pound's value in the belief that British entry into the euro was much likelier and sterling would join at a lower exchange rate.

Mr Blair, who is believed to privately favour euro membership, has pledged to join the single currency only when the economic conditions are right for Britain, the world's fourth-largest economy, and when Britons approve entry in a referendum.