Main parties take hammering in UK poll

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives would slump to third place if a general election were held now, according to a new opinion poll, as voters frustrated with the deadlock over Brexit would punish the main political parties.

The Conservatives, Britain's oldest and most successful party, would finish outside the top two parties in a nationwide vote with 19% of the vote for the first time in at least a century, the YouGov poll for The Times newspaper showed.

The main opposition Labour Party, which is pushing for a softer version of Brexit, would also finish third with 19% of the vote, according to the poll.

The Liberal Democrats, campaigning on a straightforward demand for a new referendum aiming to reverse Brexit, would emerge as the largest political party with 24% of the vote, the poll showed.

The next largest party would be Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, which supports a clean break with the EU, and would be the second largest party with 22%.