Labour has widened its lead over the Conservatives as Boris Johnson is hit by Christmas party scandals, a backbench revolt and more sleaze, new polls have shown.
A Survation poll for The Mirror on 1 Dec following the news of Downing Street’s alleged rule-breaking Christmas party, showed Labour had soared to 40 per cent (+1 per cent) while the Conservatives dropped to 34 per cent.
The slump which is the Conservative Party’s lowest in almost a year heaps more pressure on the Prime Minister who is already facing rebellion from up to 50 of his own MPs over new coronavirus restrictions, which could leave Boris Johnson reliant on votes from Labour MPs to push the laws through.
As Tory rebellion mounted and the new polls surfaced, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer took suggested the PM was not up to the job.
A tweet from his official account on Thursday night said: “Boris Johnson is unfit to lead our country.”
Sir Starmer also told The Telegraph: “I’m confident we’re going to win the next general election, whether that’s in 2023 or 2024.
The last time backing for Labour reached 40 per cent, with the same pollster, was 2 January, 2019 when Theresa May was Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader.
Ed Davey’s Lib Dems polled at 10 per cent (+1 per cent), while right-wing party Reform UK, headed by Brexiteer Richard Tice, took 3 per cent (+3 per cent). Backing for the Green Party was also up at 4 per cent (+1 per cent).
A YouGov poll for The Times also has Labour stretching ahead of The Conservative Party increasing to a four-point lead (37 per cent) – its biggest since January when the nation was under lockdown restrictions.
The YouGov poll also highlights the Tories dropping points around 1-2 December when the Covid Christmas party news was first released.
Fewer than one in 10 people believe Number 10’s claim that no party took place in Downing Street last December during lockdown, according to an Opinium poll for Sky News this week. It found that 64 per cent think a party did take place while 9 per cent said it did not take place and 27 per cent did not know.
It suggests the public are losing trust in Boris Johnson assurances, an attitude backed by a recent poll by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which found that 63 per cent of the British public do not trust UK politicians and believe they are merely “out for themselves” with just 5 per cent saying they believe politicians are motivated primarily by the good of the country.
