Support grows for ‘other’ parties

APATHY towards mainstream politicians has caused support for independent candidates to surge by five percentage points, according to a poll.

The Savanta Comres poll for The Daily Telegraph found that six per cent of British adults planned to support aspiring MPS who did not belong to any of the six main parties on Dec 12.

The pollster puts support for “other” parties at 6 per cent – higher than the 4 per cent planning to support the SNP, the 3 per cent behind the Brexit Party and the 2 per cent voting for the Greens.

However, the results may also reflect a methodological change since it is the first time Savanta Comres has asked survey respondents to give a preference based on all the candidates standing in their own constituency.

Four per cent of voters supported “other” parties in 2017, including Plaid Cymru but excluding all the individual parties running in Northern Ireland.

The poll puts the Conservatives in the lead with 42 per cent, leading Labour by 10 percentage points on 32 per cent. The Liberal Democrats are on 12 per cent. If the parties were to achieve these vote shares at a general election, it would result in Conservatives having a majority of 48 (Con 349, Lab 232, LD 15, SNP 31, Brex 0, PC 4, Green 1, others 18), according to Electoral Calculus.

The findings show the Tories are holding on to more of their 2017 voters than Labour

(84 versus 68 per cent).

The survey also found that more than three quarters of the public favour tougher sentences for those convicted of terror offences following Friday’s terror attack on London Bridge.

Asked whether they agreed with Boris Johnson’s suggestion that automatic release for those convicted of terror offences should be scrapped, 78 per cent said yes and 7 per cent said no. However, 49 per cent agreed that British military interventions abroad have directly led to more terror offences in the UK compared to 17 per cent who disagreed.

On the theme of foreign policy, 46 per cent of British adults believe the Prime Minister is too close to Donald Trump, compared to 26 per cent who disagreed.

With a week to go until the polls open next Thursday, a fifth of voters (21 per cent) said they may still change their mind – including 28 per cent of those intending to vote Lib Dem, 19 per cent of those intending to vote Labour and only 10 per cent of those intending to vote Tory.