Labour nerves as poll shows party’s lead slipping to lowest since Rishi Sunak became PM at 12 points just weeks before local elections
- A new Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll puts Labour on 44% and Tories on 32%
Labour’s lead over the Tories has continued to narrow little more than two weeks before the local elections, a new poll has shown.
A Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey revealed Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has been cut to 12 points.
This is the narrowest lead Sir Keir Starmer’s party have held over the Tories since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in October last year.
In their previous poll a week ago, Redfield & Wilton found Labour were ahead by 14 percentage points.
Local elections on 4 May are set to be Mr Sunak’s biggest electoral test since he became PM, with the Tories predicted to be on course for a miserable night.
A Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey revealed Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has been cut to 12 points
Labour’s lead over the Tories has continued to narrow little more than two weeks before the local elections
Rishi Sunak’s net approval rating nudged up one point from last week’s poll, to -7 per cent. This is the highest net approval rating he has held since 3 January
Conservative chairman Greg Hands was this morning due to give a briefing to his fellow Cabinet ministers about the party’s prospects.
At the weekend, Mr Hands admitted the Tories are set to lose more than 1,000 seats in councils across England.
‘The independent expectations are that the Conservatives will lose more than 1,000 seats and that Labour need to make big gains,’ he told Sky News.
The Redfield & Wilton poll showed Labour were backed by 44 per cent of voters, while the Tories had increased two percentage points from last week’s survey to 32 per cent.
Almost one-third (31 per cent) of those asked believed a Labour majority would be the most likely outcome if a general election were held in the next six months.
This was the lowest number who said they expected this outcome since 25 September last year, when Liz Truss was PM.
Around one in ten (11 per cent) said they expected a Labour-led minority government, while 19 per cent expected a Tory majority and 14 per cent expected a Conservative-led minority government.
This week’s poll also showed Mr Sunak had clawed back some ground against Sir Keir when voters were asked who would be the better PM
Mr Sunak’s net approval rating nudged up one point from last week’s poll, to -7 per cent.
This is the highest net approval rating he has held since 3 January, which was just before he unveiled his five pledges on the economy, the NHS and the Channel migrant crisis.
Sir Keir’s net approval rating stood at 6 per cent, down two points from the previous Redfield & Wilton poll a week ago.
This week’s poll showed Mr Sunak had clawed back some ground against Sir Keir when voters were asked who would be the better PM.
The Tory leader was backed by 36 per cent (up one point) compared to 37 per cent who supported the Labour leader (down two points).
Redfield & Wilton surveyed 2,000 British voters online on 16 April.
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