Sunak’s fightback hits buffers after King’s Speech made Labour lead even bigger
King Charles delivers his first King’s Speech in Parliament
Rishi Sunak’s attempts to relaunch his beleaguered government has fallen at the first hurdle after the Techne UK tracker poll revealed that Labour’s lead had increased.
The King’s Speech was meant to be the moment when Mr Sunak could start a reset of his government and push forward to a general election.
But with many Tory MPs complaining that it lacked vision or bold initiatives, the public appear to have been switched off by it too.
According to the Techne survey, among those who know how they would vote, Labour’s support has risen by one point to 46 per cent while the Conservatives a marooned on 25 per cent 21 points behind.
The Lib Dems fell by a point to 11 per cent while both the Green and Reform UK increased their share to 7 per cent – both up by one.
READ MORE: Top Tory says reshuffle coming – and Home Secretary won’t survive
The results come at a difficult moment for the Prime Minister with many questioning his ability to lead after a row involving Home Secretary Suella Braverman publishing a article on the police’s double standards in handling protest marches.
Downing Street have claimed that Braverman did not get clearance for the article and many on the left of the party have demanded she is sacked.
But the Prime Minister has been warned that if she goes, he will split the party and unleash a civil war with most of the right behind the Home Secretary.
With a continued massive deficit in the polls some are privately questioning whether he has the authority even to carry out a major reshuffle with one expected next week.
But the poll looks even worse for the Prime Minister when the answers of all 1,634 voters asked are taken into account.
Don’t miss…
Suella Braverman sacking would spark a Tory civil war after leadership pitch[INSIGHT]
Tories raised cash to save Remembrance while ‘lefties’ vandalised war memorials[REVEAL]
Nadine Dorries says shadowy cabal that destroyed Boris has ‘groomed’ next leader[REACT]
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
The findings suggest that the Tories have a mere 47 per cent of those who voted for the party in the 2019 election.
Meanwhile, 35 per cent have said they will not vote or have not yet decided.
Labour lead in almost every category except former Leave voters from the 2016 EU referendum.
But even among Brexiteers less than a third (31 per cent) support the Tories.
According to Electoral Calculus, if this was the result of a general election the Conservatives would be left with just 103 seats and Labour would have a majority of 296.
The terrible poll results come as Mr Sunak has been buffeted by allegations made in former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’ new book about his role with a shadowy cabal in deposing Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, Labour’s own civil war over the Israel/ Gaza conflict appears to have had litle impact.
Techne UK chief executive Michela Morizzo said: “These continue to be very testing times for Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Government.
“Against the backdrop of the Middle East conflict and ongoing cost of living pressures here at home our regular Westminster tracker poll shows Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party maintaining their dominant national vote share at 46 percent, whilst the Conservatives drop back one point again to 25 percent of national vote share – thus placing Labour back on a significant 21 point national lead.
“It does seem that even when Starmer’s party suffer their own internal problems as is occurring over the preferred stance to take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the electorate remains stubbornly seeking to vote for a change from the current Conservative Government.
“Of course the winter months are notoriously difficult for any Government, but nevertheless the Labour lead really does look entrenched and very difficult to budge. Only time will tell in this regard.”
Source: Read Full Article