Tories 10 points ahead of Labour as poll lead widens
BORIS JOHNSON has widened his lead over Jeremy Corbyn to 10 points, amid a further fall in support for the Brexit Party, according to a poll.
A Savanta ComRes survey for The Sunday Telegraph puts the Conservatives on 43 per cent, a two-point rise since early last week.
Labour and the Brexit Party have each dropped by one percentage point to 33 per cent and 4 per cent respectively, while the Lib Dems have remained on 13 per cent.
Writing in The Telegraph today, Sir John Curtice, the veteran psephologist, said it suggested that an “apparent erosion of the Conservative position may now have come to a halt”.
The survey of 2,025 people also demonstrated support for a tough stance on the second phase of Brexit negotiations. Some 41 per cent said that if the EU and the UK failed to agree to a trade deal by the end of next year, the UK should end the transition without an agreement – compared to 27 per cent who disagreed.
On Friday, Mr Johnson confirmed that a Conservative-led government would remain in a “state of readiness” for a no-deal Brexit – an outcome that Mr Corbyn has insisted must be taken off the table.
The poll also showed that a majority of voters believed that the Conservatives would handle the economy competently. By contrast, 54 per cent disagreed that a government led by Mr Corbyn would handle the economy competently, compared to 27 per cent who agreed.
According to the survey, 70 per cent of those who voted to leave the EU currently support the Conservatives, while Labour was the most popular party among Remain voters, receiving 48 per cent of their votes. Around 23 per cent of those who voted Remain in 2016 plan to vote for the Lib Dems.
Last week, Sir John warned that the Conservatives’ “seemingly comfortable” lead would “soon be reduced if the Remain vote were to coalesce behind Labour”. However, 54 per cent of those intending to vote Lib Dem were not confident that a Labour government under Mr Corbyn would handle the economy competently. The survey was conducted online between Wednesday and Thursday.
The current vote shares would result in a Tory majority of 42, according to Electoral Calculus projections. The Brexit Party would not win any seats.
Yesterday, Sir Vince Cable, the former Lib Dem leader, admitted that the party’s policy of revoking the Article 50 notice period for leaving the EU, was “a distraction and not a very helpful one”.