Boris’s lead grows on who’s the most trusted on health
BORIS JOHNSON has opened up a commanding lead over Jeremy Corbyn on the NHS despite the Labour leader’s attempt to ‘weaponise’ claims last week that the Health Service would be carved up by Donald Trump.
Mr Johnson’s Conservatives now hold a six-point lead when voters are asked which party would be best for the NHS, after years of Labour traditionally being the most trusted party on health.
The lead appears to vindicate Tory strategists’ decision to ‘fight on Corbyn’s own turf’ by highlighting the extra £34billion-a-year in funding for the NHS that the Government has pledged by 2024.
It comes after Mr Corbyn seized on remarks by President Trump last week when he said that ‘certain aspects’ of the prospective postBrexit trade deal with Washington would be problematic. Labour claimed it was an indication that public services such as the NHS would be sold off to US firms as the price of a deal, something which Mr Johnson strongly denied.
The Deltapoll survey gives the Conservatives an overall 12-point lead over Labour, with the Tories now on 40 per cent and Mr Corbyn’s party on 28 per cent.
In the most complex General Election battle for a generation – widespread tactical voting is expected and Brexit allegiances cut across traditional party loyalties – experts say it is almost impossible to turn simple vote shares into Commons seats.
But a uniform national swing at the Election in line with our poll would give Mr Johnson a majority of 64, with the Tories on 357, Labour on 208, the SNP on 21 and Others on 64.
When voters are quizzed about the leadership qualities of Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn, which in previous Elections has been a reliably strong indicator of the final result, Mr Johnson has a commanding lead: 68 per cent of people think that Mr Corbyn is doing badly, compared with 25 per cent who think he is doing well – a dire rating of minus 43. Mr Johnson, however, edges into positive territory, with a rating of plus two.
The Prime Minister also receives strong backing in the poll for his Brexit strategy, the reason he was forced to trigger the Election in the first place, in an attempt to end the gridlock in the Commons that prevented his deal with the EU being passed. A total of 51 per cent of voters say the Conservatives are best for Brexit, compared with just 26 per cent for Labour.
Former Brexiteer Mr Corbyn has struggled to align his private views with those of his predominantly pro-Remain MPs.
A regional breakdown of voting intention suggests that Mr Johnson is already making inroads into traditional opposition heartlands.
The Tories are ahead by 34 per cent to 31 per cent in London, which is routinely referred to as a Labour city, and an astonishing 49 per cent to 17 per cent in Wales.
The only region in which the Tories trail Labour is the North, where Mr Johnson needs to pick up seats to compensate for expected losses to the Liberal Democrats in the South West and to the SNP in Scotland. Our poll puts Nicola Sturgeon’s party on 27 per cent north of the border, with the Tories on 24 and Labour on 22.
However, Deltapoll says small sample sizes in the regions mean the results should be treated with some caution.
Mr Farage’s threat on Friday to wreck Mr Johnson’s Election hopes by standing a Brexit Party candidate in every seat unless he agrees to scrap the withdrawal agreement he struck with Brussels forced the Prime Minister to repeat his vow not to strike a deal with Mr Farage.
The poll shows that if the Brexit Party was not an option for voters, the Conservative lead would stretch to 16 points, with the Tories up to 46 per cent and Labour also up, but only to 30 per cent.
Currently, fewer than one in ten voters say they plan to vote tactically but that figure is expected to rise as Remain and Leave supporters step up their campaigns.
Despite fears in Downing Street that the Conservatives could be punished for calling the Election, a total of 56 per cent support the poll on December 12, against 27 per cent who oppose it.
Poll indicates a Tory majority of 64 seats
PM is making inroads into Labour heartlands
● Deltapoll interviewed 1,500 British adults online between October 31 and November 2, 2019. Data has been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.