Conservatives slip behind Labour in poll as Sunak accepts ‘need to do better’
Chancellor reflects on errors made during Owen Paterson case after sleaze scandal hits home
THE Labour Party has overtaken the Tories for the first time in a year, according to one pollster, in further signs that the sleaze row is cutting through to the public.
Redfield and Wilton Strategies found that 38 per cent of respondents said they would vote Labour if there was an election and just 36 per cent said they would vote Conservative.
The poll was held on Wednesday in the wake of a week of headlines about Conservative MPS and allegations of bad practice. Some 1,500 people took part in the survey from across the UK.
It is the first time since November last year that the company, which carries out polls roughly every week, has put Labour ahead – a sign of the political challenge the Tories now face. It is also the lowest vote share for the Conservatives that the pollster has recorded in the 75 voting intention polls it has conducted since February last year.
The results match other polls in the past week that have seen the Tories drop a few percentage points, and suggests negative headlines are having an impact.
The latest row began last week when Boris Johnson whipped MPS to vote for an amendment delaying a decision on suspending Tory MP Owen Paterson for
‘We have established independent parliamentary processes and it’s right that those are followed’
lobbying rule breaches. Since then the issue of MP behaviour has dominated the front pages and expanded into a wider discussion about MPS’ use of second jobs.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, issued his first public comments on the scandal yesterday in which he accepted that the Government made a mistake in its approach to the Owen Paterson case.
Mr Sunak was asked about Sir Geoffrey Cox, the former Cabinet minister under fire for voting from the Caribbean while there for work.
He made more than £1million acting as a barrister.
Mr Sunak told the BBC: “I’m not familiar with specific details of that case. It wouldn’t be right for me to comment on individuals. But we do have established independent parliamentary processes that govern all of these things and it’s absolutely right that those are followed to the letter.
“Reflecting on all of these things over recent days, for us as a government, we need to do better than we did last week and we know that.”
Redfield and Wilton Strategies found that the Tories had dropped one percentage point since its poll last week and Labour rose two percentage points.
A separate result from the survey, shared with The Daily Telegraph by the same pollster, suggested that the public were concerned about the sleaze allegations being aired.
Sixty-two per cent of respondents agreed with the statement “there is a culture of ‘sleaze’ in the UK Government”. Just 7 per cent disagreed and 23 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was locked in a fresh row about his own past on second jobs after he considered advising the law firm Mishcon de Reya in 2017.
It was claimed that Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, blocked the appointment. One figure who used to work with Mr Corbyn told The Telegraph that was correct.
However, a Labour spokesman told The Independent that the claim was “entirely untrue”, adding: “Keir had rejected the offer from Mishcon de Reya before the then leader’s office was even aware of it.”
Paul Scully, the small business minister, was questioned about the Government’s stance on Sir Geoffrey, the MP for Torridge and West Devon, and his second job during a round of broadcast interviews yesterday morning.
At one point Mr Scully, when asked about Sir Geoffrey’s use of voting by proxy while in the Caribbean, said: “I’m not going to defend Geoffrey or say anything – that’s up to Geoffrey, it is between him and his voters.”
In another interview Mr Scully said: “You clearly don’t need to be in the constituency day in day out, but none the less you need to be available to your constituents and contactable by your constituents.”