This report was posted on the politics.co.uk website this lunchtime. It must be stressed that this is an online poll carried out by this influential website so it must be taken in that context. But it is still the highest rating achieved in any such poll and shows that there is significant support for the British National Party in the capital.

“THE race to be the London mayor remains a close contest between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, a politics.co.uk poll suggests.

Incumbent Mr Livingstone is just three points behind Conservative candidate Mr Johnson in terms of voter intentions, with the pair on 30 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.

Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick, a former Metropolitan police officer, is on 11 per cent while Green party candidate Sian Berry stands on five per cent. MA significant percentage, nearly one in five, remain undecided, meaning the May 1st poll is far from decided in either of the two leading contenders’ favour.

Mr Johnson has a wider lead in terms of victory expectations, with 43 per cent citing him as the most likely winner to Mr Livingstone’s 38 per cent. The remainder of candidates, including Mr Paddick, share the remaining 19 per cent between them.

The British National Party (BNP) would take 14 per cent of the vote according to the politics.co.uk poll. The BNP need to improve their share of the vote by just 0.2 per cent to gain the required five per cent needed to win a seat on the Assembly.

Fourteen per cent also said they would support the Liberal Democrats, while the Green Party received the backing of four per cent of the poll’s respondents.