Tories ahead of Reform by four points in poll blow

THE Conservative Party is now only four points ahead of Reform UK, according to a new poll, after it sank to a level of support last seen during the final days of Liz Truss’s premiership.

A Yougov survey held on March 19 and 20 put the Tories on 19 per cent of the vote and Reform on 15 per cent.

The Tories were down by one point and Reform up by one point compared with the company’s previous poll conducted on March 12 and 13.

Labour was unchanged on 44 per cent of the vote in the survey in a further indication that Sir Keir Starmer’s party is on track to win a comfortable majority at this year’s election.

Yougov said that the Conservatives’ share had fallen to the same level as “at their lowest ebb” just before Ms Truss quit at the end of October 2022.

And in further bad news for Rishi Sunak, fewer than half (46 per cent) of those who backed the Tories at the 2019 general election – when the party won a landslide victory with an 80-seat majority – intend to stick with the party.

Reform noted that the 15 per cent figure was a record high with any pollster.

Earlier this month, it gained its first ever MP with the defection of Lee Anderson, who represents Ashfield in the Commons and is a former deputy chairman of the Conservatives.

Ben Habib, Reform’s co-deputy leader, said: “The political wind is rightly in our sails. The Reform party is on the march.”

Hours after the poll, Reform confirmed that Dan Barker, who was the Conservative candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, had defected and would now stand for Mr Tice’s party.

The Telegraph’s poll tracker shows that the Conservatives have struggled to shift the dial since Mr Sunak succeeded Ms Truss as Prime Minister, and Labour has had a consistent lead of around 20 percentage points for the past few months.

The findings came as Mr Sunak faced ongoing speculation of a potential leadership challenge amid Tory concerns about the party’s election chances.

Speculation is rife that figures want to oust him before the next election and install Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, as party leader.