Labour party leadership poll gives lead to Ed Miliband

The fraternal battle of the Milibands for the Labour leadership remains too close to call with two weeks to go, with one poll this weekend suggesting Ed could snatch victory by just a few votes. A survey of Labour members and trade unionists by YouGov for the Sunday Times showed David Miliband, the bookies' favourite, enjoying a narrow lead on first preferences. But the pollster calculated that once lower-ranking candidates were eliminated and their second choices redistributed, the younger bother would prevail. Voting is under way in the race to succeed Gordon Brown, with the winner to be announced on the eve of this month's party conference in Manchester. David Miliband last week secured the endorsement of the veteran leftwinger Dennis Skinner , a strategically valuable backer to combat Ed's more left-leaning campaign. The shadow foreign secretary used an interview for yesterday's Telegraph to paint himself as the "unity candidate" and warn that his rivals could condemn the party to opposition for decades. The YouGov poll gave him a 36% to 32% lead on first preferences, which it suggested could be converted to a 51% to 49% win for his brother by the final round. The poll put Andy Burnham in third place with 12%, Ed Balls fourth on 11% and Diane Abbott on 9%. Party members, trade unionists and the party's MPs and MEPs each control one-third of the vote under the complex electoral college system employed by Labour. In a dig at the frontrunner, Sadiq Khan, Ed Miliband's campaign agent, said the party did not want "more of the same". "We have gained support and momentum every day of the campaign. We continue to fight for every vote and we are increasingly confident that we can win all three sections of the electoral college," he said.