LONDON - Britain's opposition Labour is on track to become the largest party at the next national election but could fall short of an outright majority, according to a Sky News projection of vote share based on local election results in England so far.

The projection, by Sky News election analyst Michael Thrasher, estimated that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives would gain between 28% and 30% of the vote, with Labour getting 36-38% of the vote.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and almost all of Wales did not vote in the local elections that provided the basis of the projection. The result for more than 6,000 seats in England are still to be declared.

(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman and Alistair Smout, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)