LONDON - European elections will be difficult for Britain's governing Conservatives, their education minister said on Sunday, after the party slumped into fourth place in an opinion poll and a new Brexit Party took top spot.

Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the country's Brexit process has become mired in chaos with Prime Minister Theresa May's inability so far to get a deal through parliament fuelling anger among voters.

With little movement in talks between the government and the opposition Labour Party to try to end the impasse in parliament, an election to the European Parliament on May 23 will offer a new opportunity for voters to show their discontent.

And both of Britain's main parties, which are deeply divided over how to leave the EU, are set to be punished by frustrated Britons, with the Conservatives losing votes to the new Brexit Party, led by veteran eurosceptic campaigner Nigel Farage.

"I don't think anyone is in any doubt these are going to be difficult elections for us ... for some people this is the ultimate protest vote opportunity," education minister Damian Hinds told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

With the March 29 deadline for Brexit rapidly becoming a distant memory, Britain is increasingly divided between those who want the country to leave the EU abruptly with no deal and those who hope to avert Brexit - options neither big party back.

According to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer newspaper, Farage's newly formed party is on 34% before the European election, with Labour in second place on 21% and the Conservatives back in fourth on 11%.

Reuters