How the working-class vote turned Tory
A party led by a wealthy classics scholar has opened a massive lead among Britain’s poorest and least educated, writes
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election victory has transformed the Conservative Party into the party of the working-class, opening up double-digit leads among the poorest families in Britain.
The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn became the preserve of the welloff and well-educated, according to new YouGov polling that reveals the demographic splits that decided the outcome of last week’s general election.
The Tories won 365 seats on Thursday with 44 per cent of the vote, and Labour was left with
203 seats, its lowest number of MPs since 1935, with a 32 per cent vote share. The Liberal Democrats got 12 per cent of the vote nationally, and only 11 MPs.
Johnson’s breakthrough in traditional Labour heartlands came from winning over the lowest-paid and least-educated voters, the polling carried out on Monday reveals. His pledges to invest in more nurses, doctors and police officers were aimed at securing those areas in the Midlands and the north that have been hit hardest by austerity.
Among unskilled workers and the nonworking, classed as DE, the Tories had a
13-point lead, compared with the 2017 election when Labour had a three-point lead in this group, and 2015 when Ed Miliband’s Labour Party had an eightpoint lead over David Cameron’s Conservatives.
In terms of education, 58 per cent of those with only GCSEs (the equivalent of NCEA level 1) or below voted Conservative, 33 points ahead of Labour on 25 per cent. Two years ago the Tory lead was 22 points, and four years ago it was just eight points.
Instead Labour has opened up a big lead among university graduates, winning the backing of 43 per cent of those with a degree, compared with 29 per who voted Tory last week. In 2015 the Tories had a one-point lead.
Labour repeatedly sought to cast Johnson as out of touch, posh and on the side of the mega-wealthy, but this message seems not to have hit home with those on the lowest incomes.
Among voters in households with an annual income of less than £20,000 (about
$40,400), 45 per cent voted Conservative, with Labour on 34 per cent. In 2015 Labour led by 36 per cent to 29 per cent.
The Tories were also ahead among part-time workers, with a five-point lead. Two years ago Labour led in this group by four points.
Labour MPs, and those who lost their seats, have accused Corbyn of losing touch with the party’s traditional base in favour of chasing metropolitan constituencies that voted heavily to remain in the European Union.
The polling also shows the extent to which voters preferred Johnson. Overall,
41 per cent were favourable to the Tory leader, and 52 unfavourable, giving a net score of -11. For Corbyn, 21 per cent were favourable, and 71 per cent unfavourable, a net rating of -50. In the key battleground of northern England, Johnson had net satisfaction of -18 to Corbyn’s -47. –