Poll dive hits UK PM's Brexit hopes

British Prime Minister Theresa May was fighting to shore up her general election campaign yesterday after a shock projection forecast a hung parliament and left the pound wobbling.

The landslide Conservative victory May hoped to seal by calling a snap election for June 8 seemed much less likely with eight days to go, with the polls narrowing and the premier putting in a lacklustre performance in a major television interview.

The opposition Labour party, led by veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, has gradually nibbled away at the Conservative lead in the polls, with the campaign back in full swing after the Manchester terror attack.

May called the election three years early in a bid to strengthen her slender majority in parliament going into the Brexit talks.

The decision was made on the back of polls that at times put the Conservatives 20 points ahead and on course for an overwhelming victory.

But opinion polls have showed the gap between the Conservatives and Labour closing.

A shock new projection on the front page of The Times newspaper forecast a hung parliament in which the Conservatives would fall short of the 326 seats needed for a majority.