Tories' lead grows, poll suggests

David Cameron will be happy with the latest poll boost

The Conservatives could win a narrow majority at the next general election, a new opinion poll suggests.

The ICM/Guardian survey puts the Tories on 40% - nine points ahead of Labour on 31%, with the Lib Dems on 22%.

The poll, conducted at the weekend, has Labour down 5% on a month ago, with the Tories up 1% and Lib Dems up 5%.

Almost three quarters, 72%, of those questioned said they thought government policy in Iraq and Afghanistan had made the UK more of a target for terrorists.

Only 1% thought the policies had made the UK less of a target and 22% said they had made no difference.

Telling the whole truth?

Twenty-one per cent of those questioned said the government exaggerates the potential threat from terrorists.

And just over half of people, 51%, said the government tells less that it knows, the poll suggests.

But 20% said the government tells the truth about the threat, with 9% not knowing, it suggests.

The last month has seen Tony Blair away on holiday during the security scare.

Tory leader David Cameron returned from his break last week to unveil more details of his policy platform.

ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,007 adults by telephone on 18-20 August.

The voting preference of those who answered suggest for the first time that the Tories could win a majority in the next Parliament.

Ninety-nine of those questioned did not know who they would vote for and 65 refused to say.