Labour gains ground on the Conservatives in new poll

Labour continues to close the gap on the Conservatives as the parties head towards the general election, according to a new opinion poll. The poll by Survation for ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) puts Labour on 37 per cent, up three points on a week ago and six points behind the Tories who are unchanged on 43 per cent.

The Liberal Democrats on 8 per cent and Ukip on 4 per cent are both unchanged while the SNP are down one on 2 per cent and the Greens are also down one on 1 per cent. While more than half, 53 per cent, said they believed Theresa May would make the best prime minister, support for Mr Corbyn is rising at 30 per cent, an increase of nine points since a GMB/Survation poll at the start of the month. The findings come after a clutch of polls at the weekend showed Labour gaining ground with the Conservative lead down to single figures.

Survation interviewed 1,009 UK residents aged 18 and over by telephone on 26-27 May.The poll follows a separate survey by YouGov which found that Labour’s lead among voters under 50 is growing, marking an increasing generational divide ahead of the election. The party is 57 points ahead of the Conservatives among voters under 25 years old, according to the poll, compared to 28 points shortly after the snap vote was called in April. Across all the age groups, the survey for The Sunday Times showed Theresa May’s lead over Labour had fallen to seven points as she relaunched her election campaign.

While only 12 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds said they would vote Conservative, 69 per cent of them would opt to elect Jeremy Corbyn to Downing Street, the poll showed. Meanwhile, 44 per cent of 25- to 49-yearolds favoured Labour, compared to 34 per cent who would vote Tory. Mr Corbyn’s 10-point lead among this age group was up from eight points in the first days after the election was announced. Yet only 57 per cent of people in each young age group said they were absolutely certain to vote, compared to 66 per cent of 50 to 64-year-olds and 75 per cent of over 60s.

The Tories have slid in the polls after Ms May U-turned on a controversial proposal for a “dementia tax”. Tory peer Lord Francis Maude said the manifesto launch “hadn’t been a brilliant success”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The general advice would be that if you’re starting an election campaign 20 points ahead in the polls then you should be incredibly bland and generic and not say anything that might possibly upset anyone.”