Labour popularity rising in North East, says survey

Labour’sbackingintheNorth East may be on the rise to give them a bigger lead over the Conservatives, according to an exclusive nationwide survey of voting intentions.

Across the region, 48% of people said they are planning to vote Labour later this week, compared to 39% who said that was their planned voteatthestartoftheelection campaign. The proportion of respondents backing the Toriesisat22%,comparedto23% backing the party at the start of the campaign.

Asimilarsurveyatthestart of May found 32% of respondents in the region said they were planning to vote Tory on June 8 compared to the 25% who said they voted for the party in 2015, while the Labour vote was at 42%, down from the 45% who said they hadvotedforthepartyin2015.

Other parties have seen their vote share squeezed by the contest between Labour and Conservatives – the Lib Dem vote was 2%, compared to 3% saying they supported the party at the start of the campaign,UKIPwas4%,down from5%,andtheGreenswere on 1.6%, down from 1.7%.

Seven in 10 of people who planned to vote Conservative at the start of the campaign are still backing the party (69%), but 13% have switched to Labour, and 13% say they are no longer sure who they will vote for.

Labour on the other hand seem to be picking up support from all sides, while 92% of those who planned to vote Labour at the start of the campaign are sticking with their party, 25% of people who planned to vote Lib Dem said they have switched to Labour, as have 50% of those who had been planning to vote Green, and 12% previously backing UKIP.