How the parties are faring in the opinion polls as election looms
The Conservatives will go into a December general election with a double-digit lead in the opinion polls.
The party is currently around 15 points ahead of Labour. It is the biggest lead the Tories have enjoyed for nearly three years.
The latest weekly poll tracker has the Conservatives averaging 38 per cent, with Labour on 23 per cent, the Liberal Democrats 18 per cent and the Brexit Party 11 per cent.
At the start of this year, the Tories and Labour were neckand-neck in the polls.
Both parties then saw their support slide, mirrored by a rise in support for the Liberal Democrats and the newly formed Brexit Party.
By June all four parties had seen their poll shares converge in the high teens to low 20s.
But since July the Tories have climbed away from their rivals to establish a clear lead.
However, the party will not want to take this position for granted.
At the start of the 2017 general election campaign, the Conservatives had a poll lead over Labour that averaged 20 points.
By polling day this had shrunk to single figures, and in the election itself the Tories’ vote share was just three points ahead of Labour.
Leading pollster Sir John Curtice has said the Labour decision to back an early general election could yet be a mistake, with the party on course for a significant defeat based on recent data.
Prof Curtice said last week: “[Labour] has been at 25 per cent in the polls ever since the spring; it’s showed no signs of recovery.”