Cameron's Conservatives lead Labour by six points - Ashcroft poll

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives have extended their lead over the opposition Labour Party to six points ahead of a national election on May 7, according to the latest survey published by Lord Ashcroft Polls on Monday. The poll, conducted by telephone between April 24 and 26, found support for the Conservatives at 36 percent, up 2 percent since the previous poll on April 17-19. Support for Labour was unchanged at 30 percent. The Liberal Democrats, junior coalition partners to the Conservatives, were down one point at 9 percent while anti-European Union party UKIP had slipped by two points to 11 percent. Support for the Greens was up by three points at 7 percent. Sterling hit a seven-week high against the dollar shortly after the poll came out. [GBP/] The election is shaping up to be the most unpredictable since the 1970s. Most polls suggest neither the Conservatives nor Labour will win a majority of seats in the House of Commons, meaning that smaller parties could hold the balance of power. The Liberal Democrats have seen their ratings collapse since the 2010 election that brought them into government, but are hoping to hold onto enough seats to offer themselves up as a coalition partner to whichever of the big two has more seats. The picture is complicated by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which does not feature in national polls like the Ashcroft one as it is fielding candidates only in Scotland, which accounts for 59 of 650 Commons seats. Polls suggest the SNP is on course to almost wipe out Labour and other parties in Scotland, with the latest one on Monday suggesting the nationalists could win 57 of Scotland's seats leaving Labour and the Liberal Democrats with just one each. The Conservatives have been ahead of Labour in six out of the last eight Lord Ashcroft national polls, although the poll's margin of error means the election result could be much closer than the headline figures indicate. Earlier on Monday, a Populus poll put Labour three points ahead of the Conservatives, while an ICM poll found the Conservatives three points ahead of Labour, underlining how close and unpredictable the race is with 10 days to go. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)