The general election campaign has seen another damaging week for Rishi Sunak as Labour is racing ahead in the latest weekend polls.
The latest voting intention from Savanta for the Sunday Telegraph shows Labour take a 25-point lead on the Conservative Party- with Sir Keir Starmer’s party on 46 per cent of the vote, and the Conservatives on 21 per cent.
This is the largest gap in a Savanta poll since the end of Liz Truss’ premiership, and the lowest-ever vote share for the Tories under Rishi Sunak.
Labour is on course for a 262-seat majority, the data suggests.
The analysis and modelling based on more than 40,000 surveys indicate Labour is ahead in 456 seats, with the Tories taking just 72.
The last time the Tories vote share was this low was in May 2019, when Theresa May announced her resignation as party leader.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta said the polling shows this election could be “nothing short of electoral extinction for the Conservative Party”.
He added: “The hopes of Conservative candidates are being shot to pieces by poll after poll showing the Conservative Party in increasingly dire straits – and we’re only halfway through the campaign.”
“There’s a real sense that things could still get worse for the Conservatives, and with postal votes about to drop through millions of letterboxes, time is already close to running out for Rishi Sunak.”
The party chasing the heels of the PM, Reform UK has recorded their highest vote share in a Savanta poll since party’s official creation in January 2021 with 13 per cent of the vote.
The Liberal Democrats also increased their share by two-points since Savanta’s last poll.
A poll by Opinium also records a heavy blow for Mr Sunak, with Labour leads 17 points ahead, taking 40 per cent of the vote while the Tories have 23 per cent.
In terms of who would make the better prime minister, Sir Keir has retained a 14-point lead over Mr Sunak with the Labour leader at 33 per cent and the PM at 19 per cent- but “neither” comes out as top choice at 38 per cent.
The weekend’s polls come after a tumultuous week on the campaign trail, which saw Sir Keir beat Mr Sunak in their second live TV debate on Wednesday night. Both leaders were given a real grilling by Beth Rigby on Sky’s Battle for Number 10, and took a number of tough questions from the audience in Grimsby.
A YouGov survey after the debate had Sir Keir the easy winner on 64 per cent, with the prime minister trailing on 36 per cent.
This week, Labour launched its manifesto which focused on economic growth and making Labour the “party of wealth creation”. As part of this plan, he revealed that he intends to raise £8.6billion in new taxes.
