Rishi Sunak has had a massive poll boost to provide his party with some Christmas cheer at the start of December.
After months of seeing Labour’s lead stretch, the Tories have narrowed the gap by three points in the last week providing some relief for the beleaguered Prime Minister.
According to the Techne UK tracker poll, the Conservatives were on 23 percent (up two) and Labour 45 percent (down one).
The Lib Dems were down one on 11 percent while Reform UK stayed the same at eight percent and the Greens were unchanged on seven percent.
However, despite the welcome poll boost, the prediction website Electoral Calculus still suggests that the Tories are heading to their worst-ever election result with a mere 86 seats giving Labour a 318 majority.
The polling is also unlikely to do much to dampen down speculation of an attempt to remove Mr Sunak early next year or even before Christmas with meetings taking place about a possible push against him.
One ally of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who was sacked by Mr Sunak in his recent reshuffle sparking fury on the right, said: “He [Sunak] is in trouble. He could be out before Christmas.”
Others though still believe “the party would be insane” to try to have another leadership contest.
One senior Conservative said: “Voters just would not forgive us.”
However, even with the poll boost, among those who voted Conservative in 2019 the Techne survey reveals that less than half (45 percent) plan to support the Tories in the next election.
The survey of 1,629 eligible voters gives Labour a commanding lead in every age, economic and education level category.
However, one glimpse of hope is the number of voters who currently do not intend to support anyone in an election accounting for more than third (35 percent).
Almost a quarter (24 percent) said they would not vote while 11 percent are “uncertain”.
Techne UK chief executive Michela Morizzo put the boost this week down to the public digesting the tax giveaways in the Autumn Statement.
She said: “Our tracker poll this week of current Westminster voting intentions delivers one of the biggest poll boosts for Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Government in a very long time.
“On the back of the Chancellor’s Autumn statement last week – which was one of the biggest tax giveaways since perhaps the 1980s – our tracker poll sees a significant three-point swing in favour of the Conservatives.
“It is not unusual of course when there are significant giveaways in a budget to see a swing in favour of the incumbent Government but the real test will no doubt be in the coming weeks ahead – to see if this trend of the gap narrowing continues or indeed if we go back to the Labour lead starting to grow again.”
