Rishi Sunak is being warned that only a dramatic intervention now can save the Conservative Party from oblivion as they slip even further behind in the polls.
The Prime Minister’s hopes of a new year comeback and possibly setting up a May election now seem to be in tatters as Labour gained two points in this week’s Techne UK tracker poll for Express.co.uk.
It means that Sir Keir Starmer’s party has gained four points on the Tories in a fortnight and now has a commanding lead of 22 points with 45 percent to 23 percent.
According to the prediction website Electoral Calculus, it means the Conservatives would be stranded on just 93 seats while Labour would enjoy a vast majority of 318.
Techne UK’s survey of 1,634 adults left Reform up one on 10 percent, the Lib Dems also on 10 percent and the Greens down one on six percent.
Techne UK’s chief executive Michela Morizzo warned that the public has now made up their mind about the Tories “and not in a positive way”.
She suggested that with speculation about Rishi Sunak’s leadership, the Conservative Party may have some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks.
Ms Morizzo said: “The bad news continues to keep coming for Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Government.
“With cost of living pressures very high on voters’ minds – not least as the early new year is always such a difficult time for families to balance their finances – our tracker poll delivers another devastating blow for the ruling party.”
She added: “I have said it before but it does seem that the electorate have very much made up their minds about the Conservatives- and their thoughts seem to be not at all positive. The Conservative Party must absolutely reflect on the situation and act accordingly!”
Particularly concerning for the Tories is that almost one in six (58 percent) of their 2019 voters who gave them an historic 80-seat majority when Boris Johnson was leader have deserted the party.
Of these 15 percent have gone to Reform UK, 12 percent to Labour, five percent to the Lib Dems and two percent to the Greens. A quarter though cannot make up their mind or will not vote at the next election.
The Tories are also at an all-time low with Brexit supporters in the 2016 referendum picking up a mere 27 percent with 17 percent now backing Reform UK.
The increased support for Reform appears to have come at just the right moment for the party’s Wellingborough by-election candidate Ben Habib in a vote he has declared to be “a referendum on Sunak”. If the Conservatives are pushed into third place there it could trigger a leadership challenge.
However, even though the Conservatives held a massive majority in 2019, Electoral Calculus predicts that if this poll is correct Wellingborough would be lost to Labour in the national swing.
