Labour handed 33 point lead in latest poll – would leave Tories facing election wipeout
Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor at the Times, added in a post on Twitter: “An election could be more than two years away. But if this were replicated at an election it could be an extinction-level event for the Conservative Party.”
New YouGov polling for the paper suggests Tory support has fallen by seven points in the past four days.
These have been dominated by fearful reports of market turbulence following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement of £45billion’s worth of unfunded tax cuts.
“In just three weeks, her administration has been battered by a crisis of confidence in her policies that have triggered a collapse in the pound and a surge in borrowing costs that threaten to push the UK toward a deep recession and a housing market crash.”
The latest polling suggests just 37 percent of 2019 Tory voters are planning to stick with the party.
This, the Times reports, points to a possible “Tory wipeout”
Sir Keir Starmer’s party was already ahead by 17 points on Monday before his keynote conference speech.
In this, he promised a “fresh start” for the UK and to “spread opportunity to all”.
Virgin News Correspondent Richard Chambers also joked: “Labour leading by more points than days Liz Truss has been in the job.”
But others have highlighted that Labour’s lead comes with a good level of responsibility.
New Statesman writer Jeremy Cliffe stressed that “the challenge before Starmer’s Labour now [is] at once to keep its head and maintain its hard-won new reputation for seriousness and humility”.
He added that the party must “also seek an unambiguous mandate for the transformative change it could enact if it does indeed win a landslide at the next election”.