Labour Ahead In Polls Despite Flag Row

Labour's turmoil over the "flag-gate" row appears to have left it unscathed so far, after two opinion polls propelled the party into a five-point lead over the Tories.

Despite fierce criticism of Ed Miliband over his instant dismissal of shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry , it is the Tories who have lost support since the Rochester and Strood by-election .

The latest weekly poll by former Tory chief Lord Ashcroft puts Labour on 32% (up two points since last week), the Conservatives on 27% (down two), UKIP on 18% (up two), the Liberal Democrats on 7% (down two) and the Greens unchanged on 7%.

And a poll by Populus puts Labour on 36%, the Conservatives on 31%, UKIP on 15%, the Liberal Democrats on 9% and the Greens on 5%.

A third poll, by YouGov for The Times and The Sun, gives Labour a four-point lead, putting the party on 34%, with the Conservatives on 30%, the Liberal Democrats on 6%, UKIP on 18% and the Greens on 6%.

The poll findings will be a massive relief to Mr Miliband and his inner circle after a torrid week in which his critics have intensified their attacks on his leadership.

Days before the by-election, the Labour leader suffered an embarrassing TV onslaught over his mansion tax policy from celebrity Myleene Klass .

Then as the polls closed in the by-election on Thursday night, he immediately sacked Ms Thornberry for her tweet showing a house in Strood draped with England flags.

While many of his own MPs backed his decision and accused the barrister MP for Islington of snobbery and sneering, other Labour MPs accused him of panicking and over-reacting and making the crisis worse.

But in spite of Labour's new lead in the polls, Mr Miliband is tipped to fall short of outright election victory next year.

Asked in the Ashcroft poll who would be prime minister after the election, just 23% said they expected it to be Mr Miliband, against 59% who named Mr Cameron.

"In other words, though all outcomes seem possible, most voters just do not think Mr Miliband will reach Downing Street," said Lord Ashcroft.

"That in itself could be an indicator of whether they will ultimately be prepared to put him there."

And a prediction by a group of politics academics, electionforecast.co.uk, suggests Britain may be heading for a dead heat in the election.

The website tips Labour to win 284 seats, the Conservatives 283, the Liberal Democrats 24, the Scottish National Party 33 and UKIP just four, despite all of leader Nigel Farage's boasts since his party's by-election triumph last week.