Prime Minister Gordon Brown addresses the 64th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, September 23, 2009. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

LONDON (Reuters) - The Labour Party’s traditional lead over the Conservatives in northern England, its electoral stronghold, has collapsed under Prime Minister Gordon Brown, according to research by the Financial Times newspaper.

The FT said on Thursday David Cameron was on course for a clear majority of English seats in the next general election, expected in May 2010.

The business daily’s analysis of recent polling data indicates the Tories have a four-point lead in the north of England, wiping out the 19-point Labour lead in the region that helped keep Tony Blair in power in the last election.

Cameron has built a big lead among the wealthy, his party’s traditional supporters, and has seen a big swing at the other end of the social spectrum, converting a 12-point deficit to Labour in the 2005 election into a 14-point advantage, the FT said.

On Tuesday, the latest Guardian/ICM poll showed only 26 percent of voters in Britain would vote Labour in the next election, compared to 43 percent for the Conservatives.